What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?
by Wyntirsno
Summary: Most of the kids thought the food in the cafeteria was horrible, but little did they know just how bad it really was. That was until the school had a massive sick out and our favorite twins went investigating.
1. The Start

**What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?**

Most of the kids thought the food in the cafeteria was horrible, but little did they know just how bad it really was. That was until the school had a massive sick out and our favorite twins went investigating.

**__**

**11:00 am Cheever's High school**

The lunch bell rang signaling the half way mark of the school day. It was Friday, and all the students were excited for the freedom the weekend would bring. Cody put away his science books and went to his locker and got his and Zack's lunch, before going to meet his friends in the cafeteria.

As he walked in the cafeteria he glanced around the room, looking for any of his friends. To his surprise, he didn't see any of them in line, and Max was at their table alone with her tray of food. He walked over to her, wondering where everyone was as he walked over to join her. "Hey Max, you all by yourself today?" He asked as he sat down.

"Well Zack should be here in a minute, I think the others are all sick." She answered before she started eating.

Zack came strolling in a few minutes later, looking around to find his friends and brother. With the cafeteria much emptier than normal, it didn't take long. He walked over to the table where Cody and Max sat and picked the seat across from his brother. He was hungry and began drooling as he watched Cody unpack their lunches. Zack saw him take out a roast turkey, and swiss, for himself that was leftover from Sunday's dinner. Cody then handed his brother two roast beef sandwiches that he made from last night's meal. He pulled out the homemade potato chips he had baked for them last night, then for dessert took out three chocolate cupcakes. He even brought condiments from home. Zack couldn't wait to eat; he then looked at Max's tray.

"What is that you're eating Max?" Zack asked the girl as he scrunched up his nose in distaste.

"I'm not sure; they claim its meatloaf. The food here in high school isn't any better than it was when we were in middle school. I always thought everything would be so much cooler here when we got in high school, apparently not." She said as she picked at her food.

"Brother, I am so glad you like to cook, and you're so good at it. We would have to eat that." Zack praised his brother.

"Thanks Zack, I am glad we don't eat that stuff too," Cody said. He blushed a little at the unusual praise from his brother. "Max maybe you should start bringing your lunch too," he suggested to their friend.

"Yeah you really should Max, this food is so different than what we got when we were on the ship," Zack agreed. "I can't believe they actually let them feed kids that stuff."

"Well not everyone is lucky enough to go to school at sea, even if it was just for a year." She teased.

"We just got lucky Max, you know that." Cody said.

"I know I was just kidding Cody. Hey guys, have you noticed how many people are missing school these days?" Max asked. "It seems like everyone is getting sick."

"I guess it even got Bob and Barbara today," Zack said noticing the empty seats at their table.

"Yeah, I guess it did. I just hope it stops spreading soon," Cody added.

"Every day it seems like there are more kids missing. I think I am going to call Bob when we get home and see if he needs anything." Zack responded.

"Hey, do you guys mind if I come over after school today no one is going to be home and I am worried about the others too. Maybe we could call some more of our friends and see if they need their homework dropped off." Max asked them.

"I wasn't really thinking about their homework, but ok I guess." Zack agreed hesitatingly as he reached for the last cupcake before Cody packed it up.

"That's a good idea Max, we'll do that. You want to ride the bus home with us or meet us at the Tipton?" Cody asked her as he started packing up what was left of his and Zack's lunch.

"Ok then I will see you at the bus after school." Max said as they all got up to go to class.

**__**

**3:30pm at the bus stop**

As the boys waited by the bus they started getting worried, Max was late. Neither one of them had seen her for the rest of the day nor had they heard anything about her. They were starting to get worried.

"Do you think we should go look for her? Maybe she got detention or something." Cody asked his brother.

"Yeah, let's go see what happened." Zack agreed.

As the brothers made their way back into the school to look for Max, they ran into Principal Militich. Cody decided to just ask her if she knew anything about Max.

"Well boys Max had to go home about an hour after lunch. She came to the nurse's office because she didn't feel well. Nurse Candle took care of her and told me she sent her home. Go on home boys, I'm sure she will be ok in a few days." The principal told them unconvincingly. She truly looked worried.

As they walked out of the school and headed home Zack dialed Max's number on his cell phone and got no answer. Cody called Barbara and got the same results so, they tried a couple of their other sick friends, but still nobody answered any of their calls.

Zack looked over at Cody and could tell how worried he was getting. What was wrong with everybody, where were they, and why were so many of them gone? They wondered if they would be next to fall to this strange illness.

"Cody, we have to find out what's happening to all our friends."


	2. Lost and Found

**What's Cookin' in the Kitchen**

**Chapter 2:**

**The Testing**

* * *

**Saturday Afternoon**

"Come on Cody lets go already." Zack said impatiently to his twin.

"Alright Zack it won't be much longer, I promise." Cody answered.

Zack was worried while he waited for his twin to get samples off of the leftover food in the giant cooler. He was watching to make sure nobody caught them while they snuck around the massive food preparation room. As he stood there he started to think about just how they had come to end up in the school cafeteria after hours.

* * *

**(Zack's Memory) Friday After School **

They had decided to go on Saturday to sneak into the kitchen to test the food because Cody thought that maybe all their friends had gotten food poisoning, so they were going to find out. It was just not normal; they needed to figure out where everyone was.

All the ill students were all supposed to be home recuperating, but nobody was. Were they so sick that maybe they were in the hospital? Cody had tried calling the hospital to see if any of their friends had checked in, and was told that they were not allowed to receive information on any patient unless they were their family members.

So they had decided to go a different route.

"Do you really think you can figure out if something is wrong with the food Cody?" Zack asked his smarter twin.

"Yeah, I could at least figure out if it is food poisoning. I mean we would be immune because I make our lunch." Cody answered.

"Well how's about we sneak in the cafeteria tomorrow and sample a little lunch?" Zack had suggested.

"Alright, I think we can do that. I really want to know what is happening to all our friends. Lets do it." Cody agreed.

So they worked out a plan that night that involved their favorite Tipton hobby, crawling thru the ventilation system. It took some investigation, but with a little help from some blueprints of the school that Cody happened to find on the Internet, they finally figured out the way in.

* * *

**Saturday - Back In The Present**

And that's how they ended up here, Zack at the door and Cody in the cooler.

"Ok, Zack lets get out of here." Cody said waking his brother out of his daydream.

"Alright, finally we get to go home," Zack smirked at his little brother, "up we go."

Zack gave Cody a boost up to the vent, then after pulling himself up Cody grabbed the backpack with the samples from his brother, then helped pull Zack in behind him. They crawled slowly out the way they came in and then hurried home.

When they got home Cody went straight to their room to test the samples, Zack sat down on the couch and started to pull out his cell phone so he could try Bob again. He checked his pocket and found nothing.

"Cody have you seen my cell phone?" Zack yelled towards the bedroom as he started checking all his pockets.

"Not since we left here earlier Zack, isn't it in your pocket where you always keep it?"

"No, I can't find it anywhere. I swear it was in my pocket." Zack answered as he bent over to look under the couch. He then proceeded to where Cody was and started looking around his side of their bedroom.

"Zack, those aren't the jeans with the hole in the pocket are they? You know you aren't supposed to be wearing those til Mom can fix them for you." Cody explained for the thousandth time.

"Oh man, I wonder where I lost it?"

"You don't think that you could have lost it at school today do you?" Cody asked fearing the answer.

"Surely not, how could I have lost it and not know it was gone? Wouldn't I have felt it going down my pant leg?" Zack asked.

"Obviously not, you lost it didn't you, why didn't you just put it in another pocket?" Cody asked he confused brother.

"I couldn't put it in my back pocket, sheesh Cody I'm not that dumb, I could have sat on it and broke it."

"You do have another front pocket don't you?" The smarter twin asked his brother.

"Uh, yeah I do… I guess I could have done that."

After much searching, and even more discussion about where the phone could be, the two decided that they needed to go back to the school and look for it. Zack wanted to make sure that the tests were done before they left them. Cody still had a few more things to do with the food samples, so they decided to go the next morning.

* * *

**Sunday Morning**

After the twins woke up and checked the tests, they found that there was nothing wrong with any of the food. Well they were disappointed to find that out, now they had to find another reason for the sickness. They put that aside for the time being, they had other things to worry about, finding Zack's cell phone being number one on the list. So they had breakfast, got their stuff together and headed out.

When they got to the school they went around to the back where the vent was that they used the day before. Not finding the phone anywhere near there they decided they better go in.

"You know we really getting to big to be crawling thru vents like this." Cody said as they were crawling towards the kitchen.

"Nah, we will never be that big."

As they kept crawling they heard talking. Zack turned back to Cody with a worried look on his face. Cody put his finger to his lips to signal Zack not to say anything. As they got closer to the voice they found out it was coming from the cafeteria office. They stopped so they could both hear what was being said, they could tell it was Miss Crocker the lunch lady and she was on the phone.

"Yes Jeanine, I know what this means."

"I know, I can't believe that they were here either. You know I have heard things about those two. They live in that big hotel downtown and I have heard they cause all kinds of trouble there."

Zack and Cody looked at each other in a panic. They were thinking the same thing. 'She is talking about us.'

"How did I figure it out? It is kind of hard not to notice a cell phone lying in the middle of the kitchen floor; it belongs to a kid that never eats the food here. That and when I went to the cooler there was a couple of test tubes on top of one of the leftover containers."

That did it the boys decided they better leave. But as they started to backup they heard something that made them freeze in their tracks.

* * *

**What did they hear? Who is Jeanine? Find out next time. I promise it won't be such a long wait this time. Thanks to everybody for hanging with me. **


	3. So Many Questions

**What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?**

Chapter 3:

So Many Questions

* * *

They boys stayed very still as they listened to Miss Mary's next words.

"_Jeanine, we can't do that to those boys. They couldn't have figured anything out, they're just kids for mercy's sake"_

She got quiet as she listened to the voice on the other end of the phone line.

"_I know, but we have been extremely careful, and there wasn't anything to find. The drug you gave me leaves no traces, isn't that why we are using it? I have been administering it just like you told me to."_

There was silence as they assumed that the other person was talking again.

"_I don't care, lets just give it a couple of days and see if they try anything else. If they cause any trouble you can tell him then. If he thinks it's necessary then you can bring them in and do what you have to do."_

The boys looked at each other, and could see the terror in each other's eyes. 'Do what you have to do?' They mouthed to each other, and then they looked down as she started talking again.

"_Yes, I will watch them tomorrow and see if they act differently, but, honestly I'm not sure if I will be able to tell. They all act strangely to me."_

Another short silence while she listened again.

"_Yeah, I know. I'll let you know. Talk to you later, bye."_

The twins waited until they heard her leave the office, and the door shut and lock behind her before they dared move again. As they started crawling they were each lost in their own thoughts. Zack was the first one to break the heavy silence.

"You know if you hadn't left those tubes in the cooler they probably wouldn't have thought much about my phone." He smirked at his little brother.

Cody stopped short making Zack run his nose right into the bottom of his brother's foot.

"Yeah, I know Zack. I'm sorry ok; I don't know how I could've forgotten to pick everything up. I guess I was just in too big of a hurry to get out of there." He looked back at his brother with guilt shining in his eyes.

Zack felt bad then. He knew better than to tease his little brother, especially when it was about something so serious.

"Chill Codes, I was just kidding you. I'm just as much at fault as you are, probably more. I mean the phone actually has my name in it, without that they wouldn't have known who left the test tubes. I really need to throw out those stupid jeans so I'll quit wearing them. I just hope I can get my phone back, I can't afford another new one, and Mom will kill me," He pouted.

* * *

They finally made it to the end of the vent tunnel that they were using and helped each other out of the hole in the side of the building. They made sure they replaced the cover so nobody would be able to tell they had been there. Then as they started to leave they peeked around the corner of the huge school to make sure no one was following them. When they didn't see anybody around they started their long walk home.

"Zack, who do you think Miss Mary was talking to?" Cody started breaking the twenty minutes of silence.

"I don't know Cody, maybe if we are really careful we can find out tomorrow at school. I mean it has to be one of the teachers right? Do you know a Jeanine?" He asked as they crossed the street to the hotel.

"Yeah, I guess it does, and no I don't. What makes you think I would know the first name of any of the teachers?" The younger twin asked his brother.

"Well you are closer to most of the teachers than I am." Zack answered.

"Yeah, but if either of us was on a first name basis with the teachers it would be you more than me. You spend enough detentions with so many of them." Cody grinned at his troublemaker of a brother.

"Ha ha, very funny. Let's just get inside." Zack replied, then under his breath added, "Teachers' Pet."

"Teachers' Nightmare." Cody grinned back.

As the identical brothers walked up the stairs to the Tipton they both said 'hi' to Norman who smiled and nodded, as always, while he silently held the door for them. Once inside they made a beeline for the elevators. They didn't stop for anything, not even a candy bar, which was very unusual, especially for Zack. After they got to their suite they grabbed some cookies out of the cupboard, a couple sodas out of the fridge and went to their room so they could continue their talk about Mary's phone call in private.

"She said they were being careful and there wasn't anything to find." Zack started.

"Yeah what do you think she meant by that? Are they poisoning kids somehow?" His little brother asked.

"That's what it sounds like. She mentioned a drug, but how are they doing it?"

"I don't know, but we really need to find this Jeanine person and see who the 'he' is that is involved." Cody said.

"Yeah, cause if they are poisoning our friends they will have to pay." Zack growled as he made a fist.

"Zack, what do you think they will do to us if they catch us?" Cody asked his big brother with a look of fear in his eyes.

"I don't know." He answered quietly with the same look mirrored in his own eyes. "But it didn't sound good."

"Do you think the police would believe us if we told them about this?" Cody asked hopefully.

"Well they would if we got proof of what's going on." Zack answered more determined than ever to fix what's going on.

* * *

As the brothers were walking down the halls of their school the next morning they noticed just how empty their school really was. Even a few of the teachers were missing, presumably out sick also. The superintendant made the decision that all the kids in each grade would be in one classroom for each period. So that meant the twins were with each other all day. Cody wasn't happy about the situation mainly because the classes were geared towards the non-AP students since there were more of them still in school. They just had the basic classes, no extra curriculars. He was, however, very relieved to be in the same class as his brother all day so they knew each other was safe.

During their 'science' class Cody had to go to the restroom so he got his hall pass and headed down the hall to take care of business. On his way there he was looking at all the doors and the names of all the teachers for the classrooms he passed. As he got closer to the boy's restroom he had to pass by the principal and nurse's office suite along with many classrooms. He looked at the plaques on the doors like he did the rest, not expecting to see anything, when he stumbled. He was so startled, he couldn't believe it but he saw the name, 'Jeanine'. He saw it plain as day, how could he have been so stupid? Now that he thought about it he was remembering parts of the phone conversation he and Zack overheard while they were in the vent. He should have figured it out then. He was so into his head trying to figure things out he didn't even notice when the door started to open.

* * *

As Zack watched Cody leave the room he got this terrible feeling of dread. He raised his hand and asked the teacher for a hall pass for the restroom. She gave him a look like she didn't believe him, but gave it to him anyway. You couldn't be too careful these days. They were brothers if one got sick the other could be, too; and she didn't want it to happen in her room.

Zack left the room and started after his brother. As he walked down the hallway towards the restrooms the feeling got stronger. He stopped as he saw Cody standing outside the main office suite doors. His little brother looked like he was in a daze and was not paying attention to anything else that was going on. Zack slowed down; he didn't want to scare Cody by running up to him. As he walked closer, he could see Cody looking down at the ground with a very confused look on his face. Suddeny he turned and started to walk away. Zack heard a door click shut just after Cody left. He wasn't close enough to see which one it was, but the noise itself was enough to freak him out. He started after his brother again and caught up to him just outside the boy's room.

"Cody…" He started.

Cody jumped and looked at Zack like he had shot him.

"It's ok bro it's just me." Zack soothed as they walked thru the door.

"Zack you won't believe what I found." Cody whispered to his big brother.


	4. Revelations

**What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?**

**Chapter Four: Revelations**

**_/_**

Hi guys, hope you guys like this chapter. Sorry it took a little longer again, but I promise it won't take as long as it did after chapter one.

Oh I keep forgetting to put this… I don't own anything from the Suite Series. I do own my OC's tho. :)

**_/_**

"What did you find? Are you ok, you looked kind of out of it like you were in some sort of trance?" Zack said as he checked to see if his twin was all right.

Cody walked away.

"Cody, where are you going?"

The younger twin put his finger to his lips to shush his brother. He then walked around the room and checked all the stalls to make sure they were alone. "Well, when I was on my way here, I started checking all the plaques on the classroom doors to see if I could find Jeanine, and guess what? I found her!" He said as his excitement started to build over his recent discovery.

"You did, who is she? Is it one of the teachers?" Zack asked trying to rush his little brother along in his story.

"Well you remember when we were listening to Miss Mary and she was talking about a drug?" Cody asked.

"Yeah so," Zack asked again wishing he would just tell him straight out. "Who is it?"

"Well, who in this entire school has control of those kinds of drugs, come on bro you can figure that out right?" Cody continued.

"Cody, I am not going to start playing twenty questions with you," Zack yelled getting annoyed. "Tell me who it is!" He never liked it when Cody tried turning things into a lesson.

"Ok, ok, I saw the name on Nurse Candles door." He quickly told his irritated brother with pride.

"Nurse Candle?"

"Yeah it makes sense doesn't it? But now that we know we have to be more careful," The younger blonde explained. "Because she could make us sick too and send us home."

"Yeah that's true, but now that makes the part about doing what she has to do even scarier." The other blond agreed. "By the way Cody, whose door was open when you were in the hallway?" He asked.

"No ones, all the doors were closed why?"

"Huh, I heard one close right near where you were standing. It clicked just after you turned to walk away." The original told his carbon.

"Really, I didn't even notice. When I saw the name on Nurse Candle's door I guess I kind of zoned out as I started remembering what we heard during the phone conversation." The carbon replied to his original.

"Well that's not good. You're going to have to be more careful," Zack said to him worried for his little brother's safety. "That could have been the nurse, and with you just standing there all alone, she could have done something to you."

Cody just stared back at him as the realization started setting in. All of a sudden he got a little light headed. When he started to sway Zack put his arm around his waist to steady him.

"You ok, Bro?"

Cody shook his head to clear it. "Yeah, I will be, I just realized what could have happened. If you hadn't happened to be in the hallway when you were, whoever that was could have drugged me, and or, had me taken away," Cody said quietly. "You would have never known what happened to me."

"Well that's not going to happen to you if I have anything to say about it little Bro." Zack said as he slapped Cody on the back, trying to lighten the mood.

Both twins jumped as the bell unexpectedly rang signaling that class was over.

"Oh man I totally forgot the reason I was headed here in the first place." Cody said sounding tense as the urge suddenly hit him again.

"Hurry up man, we don't want to be late to chemistry or Mr. Macavoy will use us to experiment on." Zack said with a nervous little laugh.

**_/_**

When the boys got to class Mr. Macavoy was waiting for Zack.

"Zachary, I believe I found something of yours." He announced in front of the whole class. He proceeded to take a cell phone out of his pocket and then held it out for all to see.

Zack just stood there in shock staring at his little black phone. So many things were going thru his mind. _'How did he get my phone, the lunch lady had it?' 'Does this mean he is involved in all this too?'_ He glanced over to his brother and could tell he was thinking the same thing.

"Do you not want it back young Zachary? Because I know several people that are interested in this particular phone." Mr. Macavoy pointed out staring him down.

Cody's eyes widened, as he understood what the teacher was referring to.

Mr. Macavoy looked at the younger twin and took the opportunity to involve him in the conversation. "Perhaps I should give it to your brother, seeing as he seems more interested in it than you are. It doesn't appear that you can hang on to it anyway." He added mockingly.

Zack seemed to wake up just then and snatched the phone from his chemistry teacher's hand. As he and Cody headed to their seats they ignored all the giggles from what was left of their classmates.

Then they heard their instructor clear his throat to get their attention again. "Zachary, are you incapable of a simple thank you?" He asked as the twins turned towards him.

Zack's face turned red. To everyone else he appeared to be embarrassed, but his brother knew better. He cringed as he watched Zack look up at his teacher and reply thru gritted teeth.

"Thank… you… Mr. Macavoy."

"Uh, Mr. Macavoy?"

"Yes Cody?"

"If you don't mind my asking, where did you find my brothers phone?" Cody asked shyly.

"Well Cody I found it on the floor, um I forget where. Besides it doesn't matter where I found it, the point is that Zachary needs to hang on to it better." Mr. Macavoy alleged. "Now let's start class." He added quickly trying to change the subject.

Cody looked at Zack and could see the wheels turning; they were going to have a lot to talk about later.

**_/_**

As the boys walked home from school they started talking about the things that happened on that day.

"You know that Mr. Macavoy got way too much enjoyment out of giving you your cell phone today." Cody admitted as they crossed the street.

"Yeah way to much is right, I didn't know he hated me like that."

"Well bro you do seem to bring out the worst in all the teachers." Cody smirked then turned serious. "I just hate to think we can't trust any of them now."

"Yeah, you know I thought you almost had him when you asked where he found my phone. You do the sweet an innocent act really well." Zack said in awe of his little brother.

"What act?"

Then his awe was gone as they headed towards the doors of the Tipton once again.

When they entered they decided today was a great day for candy. As they walked up to the candy counter Millicent turned around and jumped from fright.

"It's ok Millicent, we just need a couple of Snickers today." Zack said soothingly to her.

"Yeah we won't cause you any problems, we promise." His brother added as they both shook their heads and crossed their hearts.

"Its ok guys, I just get startled every time I see you two. Since you were both gone last year, it is still just so shocking to see you back." Millicent told them honestly. "It was so quiet while you were gone"

"So we've heard." The twins said as one.

"From almost everybody now in fact, does that just about complete our list Zack?"

"Hmm let's see... Millicent... check, that just about finishes it off, yep. We only have Cheryl the penthouse maid and Ralph the cable guy left and it will be done." He said grinning at the candy counter girl and his twin.

Millicent couldn't help but to smile back, the twins always did have such an infectious smile.

"Well we better go we have some things we need to be working on upstairs. See you later Millicent." Cody said also grinning at her as he and Zack headed for the elevator.

"Bye guys, stay out of trouble." She said as she started to giggle, she knew that was an impossible thing to ask of those two.

**_/_**

As the boys entered their suite they saw their mom sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Hi Mom." They said together.

"How was your day?" Cody asked.

"Well, I guess it went alright. I had rehearsal this morning, I bought a couple of new show dresses this afternoon, and now I am just catching up on some of the news." She answered as the local news came on.

_"... There's still no news on the whereabouts of local drug kingpin Devon Skylar. As we reported last week, just as the police and FBI finally had enough evidence to take him into custody he just vanished. He runs one of the largest drug syndicates in the US from right here in our city. We will bring you more on this story as it unfolds. Now onto other news..."_

"Wow I wish they would find him already, he is scary dangerous." Cody said.

"I know right, he wasn't just selling drugs to kids, he was forcing them to sell it to their friends for him." Zack added. "I remember hearing a story about one kid who refused to do it and this guy sent a hit-man after his family. What was that hit-man's name Codes?"

"The Barracuda."

"Yeah that's him, creepy name. I hope that story was made up."

"You boys sure do know an awful lot about this guy. Have you been studying about him in school?" Carey asked her twins.

"No Mom, there are just a lot of rumors going around about him." Zack answered his mother.

"Yeah and none of them are good." Cody added.

"Well you two just be careful, I would hate for something like what happened to that kid to happen to my babies." She said as she hugged them both to her and squeezed.

"Mom!" They said in perfect unison. "Can't breathe!"

"Ok, ok sorry. I need to get ready for my show anyway. You guys want to critique my new dress when I get ready?" She asked as she let go.

"Sure Mom, you know we love seeing you all gussied up." Her eldest said as he scrunched up his nose before giving her a wink.

"Yeah well you are going to see it anyway Mr.," She said with a grin.

"By the way you two ok for dinner?"

"Yep, got it covered." Her youngest and the resident cook said quickly.

"Ok Mom just pop your head in and let us get a look, to see at your new duds before you leave." Zack said as he turned and headed for their room with Cody hot on his heels, grinning.

As Cody shut the door he saw Zack turn around and give him a serious look.

"Ok, so we know, so far, that Nurse Jeanine Candle, Miss Mary Crocker, and Mr. Frederic Macavoy are all in this together. Who else do you think is involved? You don't think Principal Militich is in on it do you?" He asked hoping for a no to that question.

"I really hope not, I hate to think of her as a bad guy. I mean we went bird watching together freshman year." Cody answered him sounding unsure.

"Yeah I remember that." The eldest smirked at his younger brother. "Ca-caw... hehehe. You were a little weird back then."

"Oh well, at least I never received another detention after that, that is until you ran amuck as Hall Monitor on the ship last year." the slim blonde replied sarcastically.

"Hey you should really thank me for that, I saved you from being stuck with that farm girl from hell. You would have never known she was two timing you with Holden if I hadn't caught them making out under the stairs on the Sky Deck." Zack shuddered at the memory.

Cody also shuddered but he was remembering the fight that came after the discovery. "Ok let's not open up old wounds, especially when they aren't fully healed yet." He suggested sadly. "Let's get back to the subject at hand."

"Sorry Bro, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories. So is there any way we can find out why they are trying to make all the kids sick?"

"Well the only way I can think of is to hack good ol' Jeanine's computer. She seems to be either in charge or very close to the one who is." Cody offered.

Just then they heard a knock on their door. They looked at each other and grinned as they heard their mom.

"Ok boys I'm ready to go." Carey said thru the door.

"Coming Mom." They said.

Cody opened the door and saw his mother across the room and his jaw dropped. He could hear the gasp coming from behind him as Zack walked out after him.

"Mom, you look so great, I mean... wow" He said stunned.

"Wow, Mom I can't believe you look so... and don't take this the wrong way, but you look hot." His brother chimed in giving off a wolf whistle for added emphases.

"Thanks boys." She said as she enjoyed the stunned looks on their faces. She was worried that she had gone too far with her new dress, but from the reactions of her boys, she got it just right. "So you think this one will be alright?"

"Uh yeah."

"Absolutely."

She smiled at her two biggest fans. They always supported her no matter what, but this time she could tell they weren't just going thru the motions. That made her almost forty self-esteem feel so much better.

"Ok boys thank you for helping me out. You can go back to whatever you were doing."

Both boys went over and gave their mom a hug and a kiss on the cheek before saying bye and retreating back to their room.

Carey left her suite that night feeling extremely loved, almost as if she could do no wrong.

**_/_**

Meanwhile back in the suite, Cody starts his search on the Internet for a way to get the files off of Nurse Candle's computer without her knowledge.

"You know bro it would be great if we could do this without having to go back to the school, is that possible?" Zack asked.

Cody looked at him and said, "I have no idea; I have never even wanted to know how to do this before. Lets keep looking and see what we can find."

So Zack made a call to the pizza place and had dinner ordered so they could spend more time looking and got ready for a long night of searching the web.


	5. Worry

'What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?'

Chapter 5 – Worry

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As Carey stepped out of the elevator after her last set, she looked behind her to see if a part of her wasn't still in the elevator. She was so tired it felt like a part of her was dragging behind.

When she entered her small suite her sofa bed started calling to her trying to lure her to snuggle deep into its soft, fluffy blankets. Cody had already pulled it out for her as always, and it looked so inviting. She fought her urge for sleep and went to check on her boys like she had every night for the last sixteen years, except last year when she missed them terribly. As she opened their bedroom door the first thing she saw was Zack's feet; he was sitting on the floor leaning against his bed sound asleep. The pizza box that was in his lap was covered with papers; she hoped he didn't get pizza grease on his homework. She continued scanning the room, looking past the empty soda cans and a couple of chewed on pizza crusts, she saw her other son with his hand still poised to type as he slumped over the keyboard also sleeping. He looked so uncomfortable like that she couldn't imagine how he even fell asleep. She wondered what kind of homework they could have had that kept them up so late on a school night? She felt like getting on the phone and calling their superintendent to give him a piece of her mind, but it was too early in the morning for yelling. She leaned down and ran her hand thru the older blonde's hair.

"Zack honey wake up, you need to get in bed." She then crossed the room careful not to step on anything painful and touched Cody lightly on the shoulder.

"Cody, sweetie, wake up. You can finish whatever that is tomorrow."

Zack groaned as he fought waking up, as he did he remembered where he was. " Oh man, I can't believe I fell asleep down here." He said as he moved the pizza box off his lap, picking up the papers and trying to keep them out of site of his mom. He peeked in the box to see if there was any pizza left and got a warning glance from his mom.

Cody, on the other hand, just about fell over backwards in his chair; he sat up so quickly, startled by his mothers touch; he had to catch himself on the edge of the desk. "Mom? What time is it?" He asked as he stretched turning off the computer screen, he definitely didn't want his mother to see what he was looking up. She would kill them if she knew he and Zack were going to hack a computer.

"It's a little after two, just what kind of homework did you boys have that keeps you up till all hours?"

"Um, we were just trying to catch up. We have all new homework since our classes are different for right now." Cody answered warily.

"Yeah Mom, it's no big deal we just lost track of time a little." Zack said trying to help his brother explain.

"Well you need to pay more attention to the clock when you are working. Go to bed so you can get at least some sleep before school. Good night boys, love you." She said as she headed out the door.

"Night Mom, love you too." They said together.

After she shut the door the twins jumped up and started getting ready for bed.

"You think she bought it?" Zack asked.

"I hope so, she probably did as long as she didn't see what we were working on." Cody answered.

"You know we really need to try this soon. Did you find anything that will work?"

"Yeah I know, and I'm not sure yet. I think I have. I just need to check a couple of things before tomorrow night. We better get to bed before Mom comes back." Cody told his brother.

)))))))))))))))))

At that very moment back at the school two school employees were having a discussion...

"Well, Mary it looks like your hunch is paying off. Those twins don't seem to be causing any trouble so far."

"They are good kids Jeanine, they just like to act out once in a while. I hate that so many kids are suffering for this." The lunch lady said sadly. "I wish there was another way."

"We have the cure for them, and I will make sure they all get it when we are done. They will be alright." Nurse Candle replied. "If we don't do this WE will be the ones in trouble."

At that moment they heard a soft rap on the door.

"Come in." Mary said hesitantly.

The door handle to the Nurses Office turned slowly and in came Mr. Macavoy and another man.

"Hello Fredrik. Mitchell, how is everything going down there?" Jeanine asked the men.

"Well, I think we will be able to have our end ready, how about you ladies? Is everything going smoothly so far?" Superintendent Hendrikson asked.

"So far everything is going well Mitchell. We thought we had a problem, but it seems to be fine, wouldn't you say Freddie?" Jeanine asked the Chemistry teacher.

"What? Oh, yes I purposely baited the older one today to see if he would do anything and he was actually very calm for him, but it's the younger one who has all the questions." Mr. Macavoy suggested. "That one is the smarter of the two, the other is the sneaky one. So if Cody suspects anything Zack will come up with a plan to figure out if he's right. We might have to keep watch over them just a little bit longer just to make sure."

"Ok then if you all are sure then, we should be ready to go this weekend. Then hopefully everything can get back to normal." Mitchell said to the group. "Let's just hope those boys behave themselves, I'm afraid that we couldn't help them if they cause trouble. You know he has no trouble sending in his hit man."

They all left after that to get a little sleep before they had to be back for school later that morning. The group of four walked to the parking lot and went off in three directions...

(((((((((((((((((((((

A little while later lying in bed...

"Bunnie, I wish we hadn't gotten involved in this whole mess. It feels like it's spiraling out of control, and I can't stop it." Mitchell said. "We made all those children sick, and for what? We really didn't need all that money, did we? We were happy enough; we weren't in real trouble or anything. Greed got to me and now it's to late to go back, it truly is one of the seven deadly sins."

He got quiet for a few minutes as he reflected on all that has happened since he got involved in all this mess. Then he added sadly. "He just keeps dragging us deeper into his Syndicate, right where I don't want to be. I just can't see a way out. Tell me it will really be over after this last deal, lie to me if you have to."

"I'm sure that will be the end of it Mitchie, he is going out of the country with the whole operation, right?" She tried sounding convincing as she snuggled into his chest.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he won't leave one of his goons behind to keep us in line." Mitch said as he pulled her in trying to gain some comfort from her closeness.

))))))))))))))))))))

As everyone woke later that morning to get ready for a day of school their minds were so lost in worry, it was like each of them was on autopilot.

All four staff members worried that this final transaction might not go through and that they might be forced into doing even more for the man they had all come to despise. They harbored no trust for him, for they knew that he could get them to do his bidding whenever he wanted. At the same time, they also were very worried about all the kids that they had made sick, were they sure they would be all right. What would happen if some of them didn't make it? Oh yes, and hovering at the top of their worry list; hope that a pair of twin boys would stop meddling and not get themselves killed. Sure all their previous worries were taken care of thanks to the Syndicate.

Mary's mother who had had a stroke a year ago was being taken care of by the best doctors in Boston. Fredrik's son's college tuition was taken care of and his daughter was enrolled in Julliard with all payments made. All of Jeanine's college loans from nursing school had been taken care of and her car and house paid off. And for Mitchell all his settlements from his divorce were taken care of and his ex-wife was ecstatic over how much she received. But in the long run was it all really worth it?

((((((((((((((((((((((

Two identical blondes across town were also getting ready for school that morning and they were worried that they wouldn't be able to figure out what was going on in time to save their friends. Also uppermost in their thoughts was the fact that they could very easily get caught. Then what would they do?


	6. Lie's and Misdemeanor's

**What's Cookin' in the Kitchen? – 6**

**Lie's and Misdemeanor's

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**

Ok I keep forgetting to add this, I own only the people you've never heard of. lol Sorry this took a little longer to update again. Thank you for being my sounding board WoundedHearts on every chapter, and Tiger002 for helping me find what he called my evil side, and tweaking my fight scene for me. :P I hope you guys like it.

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Wednesday- before 1st period

Wednesday morning as the usual flood of kids would normally be rushing thru the halls of Cheavers High School to get to their first class of the day, there were barely enough students left to even notice the tension of the twins that just walked through the front doors.

Those that did were shocked to see them not talking to each other; while physically they were walking side by side, emotionally they were light-years apart. They acted as if their sibling wasn't even beside them, much less on the face of the planet.

As they got to their lockers, that just happened to be beside each other, Zack opened his and slammed the door into Cody's. The younger twin pushed it back towards Zack and barely missed his brother's fingers when it slammed closed. After Cody got his door open Zack slammed it back again almost hitting him in the head this time. Cody then pushed it slowly toward his older brother, the irritation apparent in his face, until it stuck out straight from the wall. He finished getting his books, slammed his locker closed and walked off. Zack glared at him as he watched him go, then he got his books, slamming his locker closed as well and followed his twin to class.

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Break between 1st and 2nd periods

Two identical faces could be seen in the rush between classes, not because they were twins but more because they were both looking like they could kill each other at the slightest provocation. As they walked from one class to the next they could be seen trying to ignore each other, but as they tried to walk through the door to class they both went through at the same time and bumped each other.

"Zack you could wait until I get through instead of trying to knock me out of the way."

"Then hurry up or get out of the way." Zack growled as he pushed his brother out in the hallway before taking his seat and angrily placing his book upon his desk.

Cody just glared at him and took his seat, which unfortunately, was right beside Zack.

They were quiet the rest of the class neither even looked up unless the teacher was talking to them.

* * *

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Break between 2nd and 3rd periods

As they got up to leave the room Zack dramatically stopped at the door and bowed extending his arm to let Cody go ahead of him. Cody glared at his brother as he walked by, not seeing the leg Zack stuck out causing his twin to trip and fall to the floor, scattering books and papers everywhere.

The kids left in the class laughed at Cody who struggled to gather all his supplies as he got up while shooting daggers at his older brother. "Walk much dork?" Zack asked with a wicked grin as he picked up a few of the books and shoved them into Cody's chest.

"Thanks," Cody replied, his voice spiked with venom. The younger twin walked on to his next class, feeling the bruises already forming on his knees. Zack followed him out but had to stop at his locker since he forgot a book he'd need later in the day, whereas Cody just continued on since he always made sure he had everything, therefore, they had no other confrontations during that break.

Their next class was a study hall, so it wasn't structured like the other classes. Cody sat on one side of the room working on a computer while Zack did the same in a corner on the other side of the room. They didn't even look at each other the whole period, which was rare since even when they were busy Zack still found time to bug his brother. They got up to leave when the bell rang for lunch, went to their lockers where again Zack swung his door at Cody and actually hit him this time in the shoulder.

That's all it took.

Cody put his books in and slammed it closed then turned on his brother.

"What do you think you are doing?" he yelled loud enough to get the attention of everyone around them.

"I am just trying to get you to talk, what is your problem today? You have been a pain in the butt all day."

"You really don't know do you? I can't believe you lost your phone again, which teacher is going to embarrass us this time Zack?"

"You're mad about my phone, oh grow up Cody. That doesn't even have anything to do with you."

"Haven't you figured it out yet, everything that happens to you involves me too? I am getting tired of all the teachers coming to me about you." Cody yelled as he shoved Zack back into a row of lockers.

He then turned and started to walk down the hall towards the cafeteria. However he didn't get very far, because Zack had gotten up and jumped on him from behind knocking him to the ground. Cody crawled a few feet and got back to his feet, and turned to face his brother. He clenched his jaws as he hands turned into fists. He couldn't believe things had come this far, but he wasn't about to just let Zack make a fool of him.

As Zack ran at him, he threw a punch at Zack's face but his twin raised his arm to block it as if he knew the attack was coming. Zack counter attacked with a fist directly into Cody's stomach. The gasped in pain, but knew he couldn't lose that easily. He pulled his fist back and struck Zack squarely in the face. The older twin stumbled back a few steps before bringing his hands up to his face. He looked at Cody in awe. Pulling his hands away, Cody saw the crimson liquid flowing from his nose and dripping along the ground.

"Look what you did!" Zack screamed charging at Cody and shoving him to the ground. The older twin jumped on his brother, and pulled his fist back.

"Wait Zack, can't we talk about this?" Cody asked, his voice trembling knowing the pain that would soon be coming.

"It's too late for that!" Zack said brining his fist down, but was stopped by the hand of the principle on his shoulder that shoved him off his brother.

Looking up, Cody saw the principle's office right in front of them, thankful that the fight didn't last much longer. "Ok you two, my office, now!" she yelled.

Both boys got up slowly and shuffled into her office. As she followed them into the office, she noticed that Cody was limping and Zack was holding the back of his shirt up to his nose, trying to keep the syrupy substance from coating the floor.

"Are you two hurt? Ok, you go next door to the nurse's office; we will have our little chat after. I just can't believe of all people that you two were fighting. Nurse Candle isn't in there right now, so go on in and I will call her." The instructor told them, hurriedly

The two of them went into the other room and shut the door behind them. As soon as the door clicked, Cody hurried over to the computer to get started adding the programs. Zack stayed by the door prepared to stop anyone from coming in.

"Ok hurry Codes, it won't take long before the nurse gets here."

"I'm on it Zack, just let me know if you see her K?"

"Sure Bro."

Cody then proceeded to get to the back of her computer. It was under the desk; that was a good and bad thing. He could hide the flash drive he was attaching easier, but he had to crawl under her desk to do it.

After he got it attached, he looked at his brother to see if anyone was coming. Zack gave him the thumbs up so he sat down at the keyboard and brought up the monitor, luckily she was still signed in. He started the programs he had on the flash drive, got the numbers he needed, and hid them so that Nurse Candle couldn't tell they were running.

He then turned off the monitor again being very surprised that they didn't get caught. "Okay, got it," He told his twin running over to one of the beds.

"Nice, now I'm going to wash this fake blood off my face and try getting it out of my nose. It smells just like paint."

After they had sat there waiting for what felt like forever, Principal Militich came back in.

"Well boys, looks like I'm going to be playing nurse for a little while. So how bad are you hurt? Can I get you an ice pack or some Advil or something?" she asked them.

The twins just stared at her for a minute, they were stunned at the luck they were having today.

"Um, I guess I could use an ice pack for my head," Zack answered slowly. "I was able to wash the blood off my nose though; I think it's stopped bleeding too."

"I'm not sure, I guess I'll be fine Ms. Militich," Cody added; he was afraid of any medication that might be there.

"Ok then, here Zack, hold this on the back of your head. Now, I know that things have been very stressful here lately, but that used to bring you two closer together. I know I haven't seen you both for a year now but I haven't forgotten either of you." She said giving them both a meaningful look. "Can you tell me what happened to make you have a knock down drag out in front of my office?" The tall brunette teacher asked tiredly. She just didn't know how much more she could take; her whole world was turning upside-down on her. She felt like the proverbial Salmon swimming as hard as she can trying to make just a little headway with very little luck. She just didn't understand what was happening to her beloved school.

The twins looked at each other and then back at their principal and shrugged their shoulders.

"I don't know, I guess I went a little off the deep end worrying about my brother. He just seemed like he didn't care and I got way beyond frustrated." The younger of the two answered.

"Yeah, and I'm sure I didn't help matters much by trying to get a reaction out of you. If she didn't come to stop us then, I could have really hurt you. I'm sorry Codes." The older one added.

"I'm sorry too Zack. Is your nose okay now?"

"Yeah, it takes more than that to stop the great Zack," he responded with his goofy grin showing the principle that they were back to normal.

"Well I wish all of my fights ended this peacefully." Ms. Militich said smiling. "I see lunch is over, what is your next class?"

"Gym." They answered at the same time.

"Well since you are both injured, I'll write you a note to skip gym this once. Why don't you take this next period to eat your lunches?"

"But where do you want us to eat? The cafeteria is closing down and we would be in the way of their cleaning," Cody said.

"Why don't you just go across the hall, we haven't used that room since the new schedule went into effect," she answered as she finished writing the note for them to get out of gym class. "Zack, run this note to the gym and give it to Coach Little, then go join your brother," she added as she ripped the little pink piece of paper from its pad and handed it to him.

Just as his brother was about to leave Cody had a horrible thought. Zack stopped as he listened to what was said next.

"Ms. Militich, why didn't Nurse Candle come check on us? Is she all right; will she be back today? I mean in case my ankle gets worse, or Zack passes out or something," he asked, ignoring his twin's glare at his mentioning passing out.

'How dare he say something like that, I would never pass out, that's more of something he would do,' Zack thought as he waited for his teachers answer.

"She is in a meeting with Superintendent Hendrikson, so she couldn't leave. She will be back before the end of the day though. Why are you feeling worse? Are you sure you don't need some Advil or ice for your ankle?"

"No ma'am, I was just wondering, so many people seem to be getting sick lately. Not just the students but staff also, and she's seen all the sick people, I just wanted to make sure she was ok." He answered feeling relieved. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to get the password from her computer if she didn't come back.

Zack, seeing the relief on his twins face left to give the coach his and Cody's note. After that, the rest of their day went by relatively smoothly. They couldn't wait till later tonight though to see what they would find out

* * *

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Tuesday- 3rd period study hall

"Ok Zack, I found one I think will work. It is called Team Viewer, which will allow me to take over her computer from home; it will be as if I was sitting in front of her monitor instead of mine. I will have access to everything on her computer. I also added a keylogger to the program, it will record anytime she types something and then it will email me the file it should help me to figure out her password. We will need both to get her files. I just hope she has to type in her password at least once after I turn on the program." Cody explained.

"So will we need to go to her office? She really freaks me out Codes, especially after what we heard her say to Miss Mary."

"I know me too. But we will have to go in there to plug in a flash drive with the program on it. Maybe if we can figure out a way to get in there together, one of us can distract her while the other fixes the computer."

"Let me guess who the distraction will be. Ok, so you want to have a headache or let me punch you somewhere?" Zack smirked.

"You know, actually as much as I hate to say it, one of us getting bruised somewhere is probably the best way to get in there. We really don't want to take any pills she might give us, and that way all I… or you would need is ice." Cody replied deep in thought.

"Hey wait a minute, what do you mean, or you?" Zack started to argue. He didn't mind giving pain, but he absolutely hated getting it.

"I said that because I will need to be able to get the programs up and running. I'm just not sure if it would be better to be the injured one or the concerned one. I don't know where her computer is. I just hope it's easy to get to," Cody answered. To be honest he really didn't want to be on the other end of one of Zack's punches, but he would do it if he needed to in order to help his friends. Then he smiled. "You know… you could always punch yourself."

"Oh yeah, that would work. I can't hit myself, I would know it's coming and not hit as hard, so no bruise. And no I don't want you to do it for me."

"O… K… well then just to be safe maybe we could stage a fight, then we would both have to go in there. It wouldn't matter where her computer is then, one of us would be able to get to it." Cody suggested.

"Cody you're a genius. So where do you want me to punch you?" Zack asked while grinning mischievously.

"Hmmm… where would it do the least damage? We still need to be able to function, so we can set up the flash drive. Let's head to the gym at lunch, maybe we can think of something," Cody answered thoughtfully.

"That will be fun, I'm sure I can come up with something fun," Zack said, his grin bordering on evil now.

Cody actually started getting a little scared his brother might send him to the hospital instead of the nurse's office. He was looking way to happy to fight him.

* * *

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Later in the gym...

Lunch period found the twins sitting on the bleachers beside the basketball court in the gym. They had climbed to the top and Cody pulled out what was a simple lunch compared to what he usually brought. They both just had a couple ham and cheese sandwiches, some Frito's, and a Coke.

"So little brother, any thought on where you want me to hit you yet? I was thinking you should get mad and shove me into the lockers and then we start fighting." Zack explained excitedly. "You think you can handle it?"

Cody smiled. "Watch me."

Zack's eyes went wide in shock; he didn't expect his peace loving little brother to look so happy about fighting him. 'I guess what they say about paybacks is true,' he thought.

Cody's smile widened slightly, "Don't worry Zack, I won't hurt you too badly." He was actually having fun now he saw the complete shock on his brother's face; he just had to tease him.

"Oh... Ok, it's on now little brother." Zack grinned back.

"So what should we argue about to start the fight?" Cody asked. He was at a loss, because he was more at peace with Zack now than he had been in a long time. Their time onboard the S. S. Tipton had actually helped them strengthen their already strong bond.

"I don't know let me think a minute."

They sat there for a few minutes both trying to think of something while munching on Frito's.

"I got it! You could start by yelling at me about how embarrassed you were in Mr. Macavoy's class yesterday." Zack said snapping his fingers.

"You know that's actually not a bad idea Zack. Now we just need to figure out how to start it and how far to go with it. I really don't want to end up being your punching bag."

"I would never... well, maybe I used to. Sorry about that, by the way." Zack smiled sincerely. "I agree with you though, maybe we could fight in front of Militich's office, that way she will stop us quickly."

"Ok that's a great idea. You're on a roll bro, keep going." Cody encouraged him. As always, he was amazed at how his brother's mind worked. He knew Zack would have this all planned out soon.

"Well, since our lockers are down the hall from her office, maybe we could start there, you yell at me, I slam my locker closed and yell back, you slam yours closed and start to walk away, I grab your arm in front of her office and you slam me into the lockers. From there it should look like a free for all. I can try to steal some fake blood from Mrs. Stamper during my acting class sixth period to make it more realistic," He continued adding all the minor details.

After they had their plan made they decided they would try doing some of the fake punches they learned during their brief time in Hollywood. They never quite got them down while they were there, but they never really got the chance. Their acting career was over almost before it began, the powers that be decided on using another pair of twins because they liked how they sang. They didn't get to try any right then either because the bell rang signaling that they were about to get lots of company. Gym class was about to start.


	7. Uh oh!

**'What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?' – 7**

**Uh oh**

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AN: So sorry about taking so long to update. I seem to say that alot, but seriously, sorry I'm so slow.

I don't own anyone you recognize. Wish I did. :)

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**Wednesday evening in the Martin Suite**

"Zack, give me a minute. I have to get the connection set up so I can look at her computer." Cody told his impatient brother. "You know what, why don't you do me a favor, go to the payphone downstairs and call Nurse Candles office. We need to make sure she's not there, but we don't want it traced back to us."

"Ok, I can do that." Zack replied as his twin handed him a handful of change. "At least I'll feel like I'm helping in some way."

"Just to the phone and back," The younger twin said giving him a stern look. "No games, remember I can't use the program til you get back."

"Ok, ok, I know. I can be responsible you know."

"I know you can, you just get distracted easily." Cody grinned at his older sibling. "Just hurry back bro, I can't wait to see what she is hiding on that hard drive."

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As Zack left the suite he heard Cody on the phone ordering pizza for dinner. 'I hope we don't fall asleep going thru files again. We might not be able to hide them from Mom this time.' He thought as he stepped in the elevator.

The elevator ride took forever, it seemed as though it stopped on every floor to let people on or off. There was a never-ending flow of guests; he was just beginning to wish he'd taken the stairs when he finally saw the lobby thru the open doors.

As Zack stepped off the elevator he was caught up in the rush of populace also leaving the moving box. It was like he was stuck in a white water rapid and couldn't get to shore. When the group finally dispersed he was standing in front of the revolving door at the entrance of the hotel.

"Man it sure is busy today." Turning back to the lobby he bumped into someone. "Excuse me. Oh, hi Norman, how you doing today?" He asked the normally stoic doorman, not expecting an answer.

"I'm fine Zack, are you on one of your adventures today?"

"What? Norman? Oh no, I just need to use the phone, but thanks for asking." He said in shock as he headed for the payphone.

When he finally reached the phone, an elderly woman was dialing it, not wanting to be rude he leaned against the wall and waited. He was starting to run out of patience, so he started tapping his foot, fidgeting, whistling and finally glaring at the woman. He could tell he was making her nervous, but his brother was going to think he really did stop to play a game. He needed to use the phone NOW! He growled out of frustration, and the woman hung up the phone giving him a dirty look.

"Finally!" He said out loud as he put the coins in the slot. After he heard them clink into the phone, he dialed the number he had written on a little piece of paper he pocketed earlier so he wouldn't forget it.

He was a little nervous as he stood there waiting for the phone to ring on the other end of the line. After it started ringing he wondered how many times he should let it ring. Just to be sure he counted ten rings and figured that was enough so he hung up. Relieved that he could tell Cody to go ahead and get started, he headed towards the elevators.

On his way he felt the extra change jingling in his pocket and couldn't resist the lure of chocolate from the candy counter. As he walked up he cleared his throat to get Millicent's attention.

"Hi Zack, what can I get for you today?"

"Hi Millicent, just a couple bags of peanut M&M's please."

"Sure, you want anything else?" She asked him.

"Nope, I think that's all I can afford right now."

"Ok, don't eat them all at once then." She winked at him shyly.

"Ha ha ha, don't worry one of them is for Cody. Although if it takes me as long to go back up as it did to ride down to the lobby, I may need them just to stay alive." He smirked as she handed him the candy. "Thanks Millicent, I'll see you later."

"Bye Zack."

He got on the elevator and was on the twenty-third floor before he had time to blink, or at least that's what it felt like after the first trip. The doors opened and he made his way to their suite, hoping Cody wasn't wondering about him.

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While Zack was downstairs trying to use the phone, Cody was waiting for him, trying his best not to get impatient. He'd ordered pizza as his brother left the suite, and at this rate it was going to show up before he did.

He couldn't do anything with the computer until Zack came back, so he decided to watch TV. When he turned it on the news was on; it was not his favorite thing to watch, because it was normally so depressing. Just as he was about change the channel a special news report came on...

"... We have some breaking news in the Devon Skylar case. Let's check in with Stephen at the scene, Stephen?"

"Thank you Jane, well I am standing in front of the St. Marks Hotel, where only moments ago Jagger Brunsworth, known associate to drug kingpin Devon Skylar was apprehended. We haven't been able to get any details yet on why he was at the hotel. The police are checking out all the guests in that hotel and in the Tipton Hotel across the street to see if they can find out whom he had been dealing with. So far they have found no leads. We will let you know when and if they find something, so stay tuned to channel 3. For now this is Stephen Roberts, back to you Jane."

"Thank you Stephen, and in other news..."

Cody was shocked that that kind of activity was taking place so close to his home. He barely had time to think about it when he heard the door slam; he jumped at the unexpected sound. He turned to see his brother walking towards him looking very frustrated.

"What happened to you?"

"If you only knew how hard it was to make a phone call around here."

"Did she answer?"

"Nope you're all clear little brother."

The boys went to their bedroom and sat down at the desk. Zack pulling up a chair without getting in the way, but close enough to be able to see.

"Alright, wish me luck." Cody said to his big brother the nervousness showing in his eyes.

"You can do it Codes." Zack encouraged him as he typed in the numbers he had copied off the program running on the nurse's computer, hit the button and all of a sudden there was her computer on his monitor.

"Awesome, can't wait to see what she has on that desktop."

Cody started going thru her document folder first to see if there was anything there. He saw so many folders, most having medical files in them. He found one of those filled with the medical records of all the students in it. He hated to do it, but he needed to see if she showed what she had done to them in it, so he sent the file to himself.

As he kept looking, he saw a couple files with just initials on them; he decided he had better look at them just in case. He clicked on the one with MH on it first.

"Oh Bro, that's way more than I ever wanted to know about Mr. Hendrikson or Nurse Candle." Zack said as pictures came up of their Superintendant and School Nurse kissing and other various situations the twins never wanted to imagine from their teachers. They also saw a love poem from Mitchie to Bunnie.

"Close the folder already, my eyes are burning. That's almost as bad as the tape of when we were born."

"Alright, but you know this one might actually come in handy if we get caught, you know for leverage." The younger twin said as he sent that one too. He then clicked the folder labeled DS. When the information came up, both boys sat there to stunned to even speak. Cody immediately sent that one also.

"I can't believe this has anything to do with someone like him. How could they have dealings with known criminals?" Cody asked looking at his brother. He was now extremely worried, especially after seeing that news report.

"I don't know Dude, but you had better sign out, this just got a whole lot more dangerous." The older blonde said as his brother checked to make sure all the emails were sent.

"Yeah, just let me make sure everything is erased completely so she won't know we were here." Cody told him as he destroyed all copies of the emails he sent himself. He then signed out.

"I knew it was bad, but I would have never thought…" Zack started.

"You have no idea, you won't believe what I heard on the news right before you got back from calling her office." Cody interrupted. "They said that one of his employees was arrested coming out of the St. Marks today. They are searching both hotels for a connection to them."

"Seriously? You don't think… no surely they wouldn't be watching us… would they?" Both boys fell silent trying to figure out what they should do next, keep going or completely stay out of it.

Little did they know that the decision was out of their hands, and being made for them at that very moment.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

**Back at school**

Nurse Candle walked into her office after going to dinner with Mitchell; she had some paperwork she really needed to finish. She had put it off too long already. As she sat down at her computer she noticed that she forgot to shut down her computer again, but there was also something odd about her screen. There was normally a pair of cute little bunnies as her wallpaper, but they were gone and the screen was black.

As she was examining the screen a folder opened, and it was the one she would least like anyone to see, she didn't even like that she had to keep it on her computer. As she watched, the arrow moved to open an email to send, attached the folder, and typed in an address. Then it clicked to erase a few emails that were sent to the same address, closed the offensive folder, and signed out of a program that she didn't even know she had. When her bunny wallpaper came back up, she knew she had no choice but to make a phone call.

"I'm sorry son, but you and your brother are going to be in big trouble. I wish you would have left well enough alone, but now it is either you two or the four of us." She quietly said as she dialed the number.


	8. On the Run

'What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?'

Chapter 8 – On the Run

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_A/N: As always I do not own the characters from the Suite Life Series. I do own the ones you don't know, however. _

_And again I must apologize for taking so long to update. You guys must be getting tired of waiting for me, I hope you are still there._

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* * *

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As the twins walked into school Thursday morning they thought they had the upper hand over their teachers. They couldn't have been more wrong as they had no idea that their every move was being monitored. They wouldn't be able to sneeze without someone in the Skylar Drug Ring knowing about it.

The two of them were actually feeling pretty good about themselves; they had found what they needed, hid it in a safe place, then left their Mom a note telling her everything that had been going on so far. It also told her that the Devon Skylar folder was hidden on a pen drive, and also where they hid it. It then told her to take the drive to the police if anything happened to them. On the outside of the envelope said 'Open in case of Emergency'.

* * *

When Nurse Candle made her phone call the night before and explained what had happened she was told to get the twins ready to be transported. Meaning to knock them out somehow and keep them hidden til someone came to pick them up. She asked if there wasn't another way; that maybe someone else couldn't take care of them?

The man on the other end told her that seeing as how she had not only left that file in her computer at work, but also left that same computer signed in as well. Could she have made it any easier for the twins to get to them?

Since this was all her fault she was expected to do as they told her. They wanted her to put them to sleep, however, they wanted them unharmed. Mr. Skylar thought he might want to take them with him when he left, but hadn't decided yet. He wanted to see them first.

Jeanine had to figure out a way to get the boys to come to her office. That's the only way for her to administer the medication to help them sleep. She couldn't put it in their food like they did the other kids medication, because they still brought their lunch. Just as she was trying to think something up Principal Militich came in and gave her an excuse.

"Jeanine, did you find the paperwork I left for you yesterday?" her boss asked her. "The Martin twins got into a horrible fight while you were out, and I had to use a few of your supplies. You know ice packs, Advil, bandages, the usual stuff, I just wanted you to know for your inventory."

"Thank you Jackie, I will take a look at those right now."

If the fight was bad enough, she could bring them back for a recheck. Now, how to subdue two teenage boys long enough to give them a sedative…

* * *

The boys were waiting for English to be over, and it felt like they had been in that one class all day. Today was oral book report day; they had both given theirs at the beginning, so all they had to do was wait while everyone else did theirs.

All of a sudden a loud rap at the door woke the class from their hypnotized stupor. They all looked up as Mr. Macavoy entered the room.

"Mrs. Turner, Nurse Candle asked me to escort the Martin brothers to her office." The chemistry teacher explained his interruption quickly. "She needs to check them over after their little spat yesterday."

"Alright, Zack and Cody go ahead and gather your things and go with Mr. Macavoy please. I will see you tomorrow, don't forget to read chapters 23 thru 27."

The twins looked at each other as they tried desperately to think of a way to get out of this. They knew why they were going down there.

"Um, Mrs. Turner?"

"Yes Cody."

"Uh, we..."

"We feel fine Ma'am, our Mom had us checked out last night." Zack said helping out his brother.

"Well, she told me that since she wasn't the one who checked you boys out she needed to see you herself." Grumbled the Chem. teacher.

"Ok boys, I'm sorry but it looks like you have to go." Mrs. Turner empathized. She really hated sending them, they looked so terrified, and every time any one went there recently they didn't return. She had no choice however because Nurse Candle actually had more power than Principal Militich in matters of health.

Mr. Macavoy glared at the brothers as they started packing up their books, they were moving too slowly. When Zack dropped his pencil near Cody he got his attention with a couple of hand gestures that only they knew, they were from a made up language that they started when they were little. Cody understood immediately what he said and gave him a quick almost unnoticed nod. They slung their packs over their shoulders and followed their irritated teacher.

"We need to stop at our lockers." Cody explained to the male teacher.

"Yeah we really don't need all these books in the Nurses office, do we?" Zack asked, trying to annoy him as much as possible.

It worked.

"Alright, ok, but make it quick; you've already wasted enough of my time," Mr. Macavoy grumbled, "Hurry up!

* * *

To his surprise, however, after they closed their lockers; they bolted down the hall. The gestures Zack had given Cody were to tell him they were going to run. They only really stopped by the lockers to lighten their packs so they could move quicker.

"You two get back here!" Their teacher yelled.

"Where to now, Zack?"

"I'm not sure yet, all I know is it's sure not to see Nurse Candle. I don't want to be anywhere near Mr. Macavoy either."

"Stop!" The Chemistry teacher shouted. "Get back here, NOW!"

"Yeah, I agree that would be extremely bad." Cody said looking back at the out of shape teacher trying to catch up with them. They then rounded the corner and headed towards the gym. There shouldn't be anyone there at that time of the day.

"Maybe we should hide in here somewhere for a little while." Zack said as they heard Mr. Macavoy's shouts getting fainter. They were lucky he wasn't very fast and it was him and not the coach that was chasing them. They were far enough ahead of him so that they could duck in somewhere and he wouldn't see where they went. As they passed by a long string of doors, Zack all of a sudden grabbed his twin by the wrist and dragged him into a storage closet.

"So this is where they keep all the balls for gym." Cody commented quietly.

Zack just rolled his eyes and put his hand over the younger boys mouth, shushing him. They could hear the heavy breathing and loud footfalls coming towards their hiding place. As they heard him stop in front of their door to answer his phone, they didn't even realize they were holding their breath in fear of him hearing them until they both couldn't breathe.

"Hello?"

"… "

"Yes Jeanine, I know I'm taking too long, but the little twerps ran off on me."

"…!"

"I know… stop yelling at me! It's not my fault! You're the reason we have to do this in the first place, so don't you go blaming me. I didn't leave my computer on with important information on it."

"… "

"I know… I'm looking for them now. They ran in the direction of the gym and then seemed to vanish. I'm going to keep looking…"

His voice started fading away as he walked away from the boys in the closet.

"We better find some other place to hide, and quick." Zack whispered.

"Your right, I'm surprised he hasn't started checking the doors yet." Cody agreed.

* * *

They couldn't hear his voice anymore so Zack cracked open the door; no one was in site. He pulled it open and they headed the opposite direction they heard the voice go in.

"Ok, so, now what?"

"Let me think for a second."

"Well hurry bro, we need one of your sneaky plans and quick."

Zack snapped his fingers. "I know where we can hide for a little while and still keep track of what's going on with everybody."

"The Ventilation System!" They both whispered loudly at once, then turned and grinned at each other.

"K, but where is the best place to get in it that no one will see?" Zack asked his little brother, as he should know these things.

"Hmm… maybe one of the bathrooms. We need to find one that no one uses much, not at all would be even better."

"No problem, follow me." Zack instructed.

Cody followed his big brother to one of the halls that had been deserted since so many kids went home sick. They heard someone coming, so, again they ducked in a closet. This one storing huge stacks of paper products, such as: paper towels, toilet paper, and Kleenex. It also had all manner of cleaning products stored there. They ducked behind a stack of toilet paper.

As they dove behind the large stack they thought they heard whistling coming towards them. Suddenly the door opened and they saw a hand reaching out towards them. They couldn't see who it was because the man didn't turn on the light. Zack could feel Cody start to shiver beside him, his nerves were getting the better of him, as the hand reached further in it stretched out and grabbed a roll of toilet paper.

As the man turned to leave, Zack peered over the top of the stack at the backside of the whistler. He couldn't help thinking how well dressed the guy was to be in the school, especially if he was the janitor; who else could he be getting supplies from storage?

* * *

After the door shut, Cody slumped against the wall and slid down to a sitting position. He could feel the relief washing over him like a warm shower. Zack sat beside him and draped his arm around his look-a-likes shoulder to help soothe his nerves; to be honest it helped soothe Zack's nerves too.

They were both so grateful that they weren't having to go thru this alone. They just sat there on the dirty floor of the supply closet thinking while trying to catch their breath and get their nerves back in tact.

When they were sufficiently calmed down enough to be able to move without falling off their wobbly legs, they decided to search for the vent in the closet instead of going to yet another location and chance running into anybody else. They already felt like the whole school was looking for them. They didn't want to run into that whistler again either, they didn't know who he was but they both got a really bad vibe off of him.

"Over here Zack, behind this shelf. Help me scoot it over a little."

"Ok, I hope this goes to where we listened in on Nurse Candle and Miss Mary the other day."

"I'm sure it will eventually; we are on the other side of the building after all. But the vents all run together to cool the school."

"Well Codes, we better get out of here before that whistling guy comes back for Kleenex or something." Zack said.

"Yeah ok, lets go." Cody agreed. "Oh no."

"What now little brother?"

"How do we get the shelf back in its place?"

"Ooo… well lets try this, help me move it back over.

They moved it back where it was with the shelf they needed to crawl thru cleaned off a little, keeping everything close so it could be reached. Cody crawled in, followed by Zack who rearranged the shelf so the vent wasn't noticeable, and then he hooked the cover back on.

* * *

The boys then disappeared in the massive twists and turns of the shafts running throughout the building.


	9. Fear and Hiding

**What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?**

**Chapter 9 - Fear and Hiding**

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* * *

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**AN:** Hi again, this chapter is a little shorter than the other but it felt like a natural stopping place for now. :)

I again own nothing except the characters that nobody knows. All others belong to Disney.

* * *

In the Nurses Office...

"Where are they?" Nurse Candle asked going into a panic. If they didn't find them she was going down for her mistake and she knew it.

"I don't know Jeanine, I lost them somewhere around the gym."

"Well no wonder, the gym is like a foreign country to you." She replied sarcastically.

"Hey, do I need to remind you, again, that we wouldn't be in this mess if not for you?" Mr. Macavoy told her. He was really starting to get annoyed with her attitude lately, acting like she ran the school. It was getting very irritating getting told what to do all the time, he was used to being the one doing the telling. He was normally a good teacher after all. The kids used to call him the Chemistry Wiz before all this mess started; he really missed those days.

"I'm sorry Fredrik, it's just if we can't find them 'He' is going to take his frustrations out on me, and by extension that will include us all."

"Well have you got anyone else looking yet?"

"No, I had no idea they would be able to pull off a vanishing act like that." She replied to the very annoyed man sitting across from her.

"Well I am going to go look one more time and see if I can figure out where they disappeared to." He offered.

"That's a good idea, I will go call everyone else and explain what happened. Maybe if we all search we can find them; they have to be here somewhere. If they had gone outside the school Skylar's men would have nabbed them by now already." Jeanine speculated.

"Ok well call me if anything changes." Fredrik offered as he got up and headed down the hall.

* * *

Jeanine called her best helper from the kitchen, Mary, and told her what happened. She then asked her to help look for the boys.

"Jeanine, I knew something bad was going to happen. Those poor boys, what will he do to them when he gets them?"

"I don't know, not really sure I want to either. I just know we don't want it to happen to us." The health care worker said anxiously.

"I guess your right, I just wish we could help them. Where do you want me to look?" The cafeteria worker asked sounding very disheartened about the whole situation.

"Well, Fred is looking around the gym area, so I guess you could look around in the vicinity of the cafeteria. That way you won't look suspicious."

"Ok, I'll let you know if I see them." Mary sadly told the nurse.

* * *

Jeanine had two more calls left to make and she was dreading them both. As much as she loved Mitchell, she really didn't want him to know just how badly she messed everything up. She really didn't think she could handle the sound of disappointment in his voice when he found out.

The other call basically terrified her to make. She had to call back Mr. Skylar and tell him that they had lost the twins, that on top of the call she made earlier was sure to get her eliminated. This was her second screw up in the last two days, and since she was the one who started the error she wouldn't let the others go down with her. Fredrik didn't mean to lose them and she couldn't expect a fifty something Chemistry teacher to be able to keep up with two seventeen year olds. She would just have to take her punishment, whatever that might be. She had heard of his hit man 'The Barracuda' and if his order were to take her out she wouldn't even know what hit her.

As she picked up the phone it felt like a cinder block in her hand, for she had decided to call Mr. Skylar first. If after she talked to him she felt that she was going to unwillingly disappear, she would call Mitchell and tell him she never wanted to see him again. She would make him exceedingly mad at her, that way when she did vanish he wouldn't miss her as much. A tear rolled down her cheek as she dialed the number.

"Hello, may I speak to Mr. Skylar please; this is Nurse Candle…

* * *

Somewhere in the vent system…

"Ok Cody, where do you figure we are?" Zack whispered as quietly as possible, for they both knew from experience just how well sound traveled thru the vent ducts.

"I'm not sure, it's hard to tell since we entered at a spot we've never been before. I'm not even sure where we were when we crawled thru the wall." The younger twin answered just as quietly before adding. "If I had known we would be up here today I would have brought the map of the school."

It felt like they had been up there for at least half a day already, when in reality it had only been about an hour. To their credits, especially Zack's, they hadn't stopped moving the whole time. Not a peep was heard the whole time from the older of the two.

As they neared another vent opening they stopped and looked down thru it, trying to figure out where they were. They noticed that the floor was made of those little one-inch tiles, that had to mean they were looking into a restroom somewhere in the school; but were they were was anybodies guess.

Cody started working his hands showing some of the same hand signals they used in the classroom. They used their secret language each time they had come to a vent grill just in case there was someone underneath that could hear them.

'We need to go down and see where we are.' He motioned to Zack.

'Ok I will go down and look around, you stay here.' Zack motioned back.

'No! I am the lightest I should go.' The younger signed.

'I am not letting you get caught, I'm going.' The oldest signed back sternly.

'Either we both go or neither goes. I don't want you to get caught and not come back either.' Cody signed frantically at him. Zack could tell that this was the end of the conversation as far as his little brother was concerned so he just shrugged his shoulders giving in, even though he wasn't at all happy about it.

Just as they started to remove the cover they heard footsteps. They froze so they could listen; all of a sudden about six girls entered the room below. They never even considered it was the girl's restroom. Zack's face broke out in the biggest grin Cody had ever seen. If they weren't trying to be quiet Cody would have busted out laughing at the expression on his face. In his mind his big brothers features had started to resemble that of a wolf on the prowl.

Thankfully they couldn't see anything that wasn't right below them, however they could hear almost everything the girls said. They had come in-between classes to freshen up. The boys found out that entailed fixing make-up, brushing hair, some even brushing teeth, washing hands, and a whole lot of gossiping.

* * *

"…Yeah, I know and Mr. Macavoy came in and practically dragged them out of class…"

"…They haven't been seen since…"

"…They didn't look like they were very happy about going with him; in fact they looked kind of scared of him…"

"…Someone heard Mr. Macavoy in the hallway yelling for them to stop…

"…I hope they're all right…"

"…Zack is kind of hot…"

"…Cody is too, and he is smart, he will be rich someday I just know it…"

"…I think they went home..."

* * *

The boys just sat there stunned and blushing a little as they listened to the conversation below. They couldn't believe that they were such a hot topic, well Zack could, but they had only been gone a little over an hour. That's hardly long enough to be the topic of all this, never being privy to the bathroom conversations of girls before they had no idea just how much talking went on. Now they were starting to figure out what took them so long in there and at least one of the reasons they went in groups.

After the girls left the room, they crawled on to find another vent to come out of as that one wasn't safe, although Zack would have loved to have crawled right in the middle of the girls when they were in there. They kept crawling til they came to another opening; the tiles were the same.

'I think this is the guys bathroom.' Cody gestured while he watched Zack gaze down thru the hole in the ceiling.

'Ok, lets try this again.' Zack motioned back.

They got the cover off and brought it inside the vent. Zack then poked his head out and looked around.

"Well there isn't anybody around, but I still can't tell where we are." He told his little brother. "Are you sure I can't convince you to stay up here, I will only be a minute?"

"Nope, whither thou goest, I will go." The younger of the two said. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"Ok, we better go then." The oldest said as he dropped from the vent.


	10. Capture

**What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?**

**Chapter 10 - Capture**

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**A/N: I own nothing, except the characters you don't already know.**

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Cody watched his brother drop from sight, and then he followed. They had dropped into the boy's restroom that much they could tell; however, they needed to go outside into the hallway to figure out just exactly where that was. Cody stayed right on Zack's heels as they peered out the doorway to see if anyone was around. They didn't see anything, so they started out the door, listening for footsteps or voices in the distance.

As they walked down the hallway they started checking out the doors to see if they could tell where they were. As they came upon the first classroom they could see that they were in the wing of the school that had been shut down. That made them feel a bit safer, however they also knew that they had people looking all over the school for them.

"Hey Codes, do you think we could find something to eat before we go back up in the tunnels?" Zack whispered to his little brother. "We missed lunch and I skipped breakfast this morning."

"I guess so, but I don't know if there is anything still available in this wing. We don't want to get too close to civilization you know."

"Yeah if we don't find anything on this hallway we will just go back up and keep searching. What time is it anyway?"

Cody checked his watch, "It's only one fifteen, we still have two hours before school is out. Do you think we should call Mom?"

"I don't think so not yet, we still have a shot of getting out of here without getting caught." Zack replied.

"You really don't think we'll get caught?"

"I don't think the teachers will be able to catch us…" Zack started.

"But what about if they called Skylar's men. That thought scares me to death Zack. They may be waiting for us outside, how are we going to get home. Should we even go home?"

"Cody, relax man, we will get out of this. Have a little faith."

Zack had no way of knowing, because it was so quiet, but they were being watched as they looked for the vending machine.

#####

Just around the corner was the well-dressed man that Zack had peeked at in the storage closet. The man was hiding from them, just as he knew they would be from him if things were reversed. He was content to just watch them for now; at least he finally knew where they were. Besides he couldn't get back to his hiding place with them wandering around his wing of the school anyway.

After he got the call from Nurse Candle earlier, he was incensed. He got over it fairly quickly however; as he knew they wouldn't get very far. His associates would be able to find them since the incompetent teachers couldn't seem to; really two teenage boys shouldn't be that much trouble. So as he watched, he was wondering what he was going to do with them since he was taking his business out of the country over the weekend. Contrary to popular belief he really didn't like having people killed, especially when he could force them to work for him.

He was sure he would need a couple of runners when he got there, and since there were two of them he could use that in his favor. He would only send one out at a time to make sure that his orders were being followed; he would keep the other one with him for insurance. If it worked out he might just keep this school on his payroll and start a new business…

He decided to watch them for a little longer before he called his men to come and get them. He was curious at how close they seemed to be, considering they were brothers. He and his siblings were never that close when he was growing up, in fact it seemed that all they did was argue. Watching these brothers, he wished that he had been closer with his family. All they wanted from him now was either to get money from him, or most just disowned him for what he had chosen as his career. They didn't want to be associated with a known criminal.

He kept his eye on them for a little longer and decided as they found their vending machine that now was the time to text his help to come and pick up his new prize.

BOSSMAN: pick up 2 vending machine my wing ASAP

#1WEASEL: U Got It Boss, B There N 5

He looked up from his phone to make sure the boys were still there. One was leaning on the wall drinking a bottle of water, while the other was still trying to figure out what he wanted.

'Perfect, take your time.' He thought to himself as a satisfied grin formed on his face.

#####

"Come on Cody we gotta go, we don't have time to window shop." Zack smirked at his little brother.

"Ok I'm just having trouble deciding between the Peanut M&M's or the Snickers. I wonder… fifty… seventy-five… one twenty-five… fifty… sixty… seventy-five… two twenty-five… two seventy-five… yes, ok Zack I'm ready." He said as he put the coins into the machine and got both choices.

After the machine finished it's noisy operation, the boys heard a noise that they had been dreading, and it was getting closer.

"Cody, did you hear that?"

"Yeah I think its footsteps. We better run, big brother."

They took off at a full run, headed for the vent they came down from. They could hear the steps behind them getting closer, but both were too afraid to turn around and look.

"We have to hide or they are going to catch us." Cody whispered.

"I know lets try ducking in the girls room." Zack offered quietly. "They won't look there, and maybe we can get into that vent before they figure it out."

They ducked into the girl's room, forcing the door closed quickly and quietly. They heard the steps go past and then they stopped, but they stopped too quickly, telling them they were still close by.

'They went to the boys room.' Zack gestured to Cody.

"We have to hurry." Cody mouthed back.

Zack held his twin up so he could open the vent cover, all the while listening for more footsteps. Cody got it loose and put it inside the vent, crawled up into the shaft, he then turned and put his arm down for his brother to grab onto so he could pull him up, when all of a sudden he got yanked back out of the vent falling flat on his face.

When he looked up from the floor, he saw Zack standing where he left him glaring, a guy had a gun to his neck with one hand and the other over his mouth. He got really angry and started to get up and rush the guy holding his brother, he wasn't that big. He got shoved back down onto the floor so fast it knocked the air out of him. When he looked up again he saw the guy holding Zack shake his head indicating for him not to do that again. He also saw what hit him as he looked up, and up again.

It was a giant behemoth of a man whose huge arm shot out and yanked him up off the floor by his wrist. The man then grabbed him around the waist, threw him over his shoulder and started to carry him out of the girl's bathroom. Cody started trying to kick and hit the monster until the man grabbed his hands and held them down by his sides as he carried him on his shoulder. He could see Zack struggling to walk with the other man's arm now around his neck, as the other man was actually shorter than his brother, coming behind them.

#####

The two boys were taken down the hallway, thru a door that led down to the basement. As they went down the stairs they saw that the old school basement was different than they remembered. It looked like a luxury apartment. Both were shocked that all this was in their school and nobody knew, well almost nobody. They just stared at all the fine furniture and accessories. Zack didn't know that much about it except that it was really expensive, however Cody knew just exactly what brand and age everything was, and he could've quoted prices on how much each item cost. All together it all probably cost more than their mom could make in three years of working at the Tipton.

As they got deeper into the room, they were dumped onto a large brown leather sofa. Zack started to get back up and the man with the gun pointed it at Cody; that worked, he sat back down and just glared at him. They heard a noise and saw movement in the back of the room. When they turned to look, a man dressed in a chocolate brown Armani suit came walking towards them. Zack immediately recognized the man as the one that he had seen in the storage closet, although seeing him this close he could tell he was older than he first thought. He looked really old, probably in his forties at least, he thought to himself.

"You're the guy I saw earlier." He said to him earning him a whack on his left cheek from the Giant, snapping his head towards his brother.

Cody went to get up and Zack grabbed his arm. "I'm ok Cody."

"Glad to see one of you is starting to see the light." The man with the gun said with an evil grin on his face as he shoved the gun into Cody's chest, forcing him to scoot so far back into the couch it felt like it could swallow him. "Stay!"

"That's enough Weasel. I'm sure they have learned their lesson already, besides we don't want to offend our little guests now do we?" The man asked his associate.

"No Boss I guess we don't, not yet anyway." Weasel said glaring at the twins.

"I guess you are wondering who I am."

"No, we already know who you are." Zack spat back.

"Yes, you are Devon Skylar." Cody added.

"Well, aren't you two a couple of bright young men?" Skylar said to them. "I guess you know why you're here then."

"We were trying to help our sick friends." Cody told him as he looked sadly down at his lap. "I guess that's not going to happen now."

"Don't worry about your classmates, they will be fine as soon as Jeanine administers the antidote to them. I wouldn't want to harm any potential future customers.

"Our friends are smart enough not to get involved with someone like you." Zack angrily smarted off. He flinched as Weasel reached up to slap him; luckily Skylar stopped him before he got hit again.

"He's entitled to his opinion… for now." He told his thug. "I need you to go get that Nurse down here so she can administer the sedative to the boys. I don't need them wandering around the school causing anymore trouble."

"But Boss… "

"Don't worry Stu, I'm sure Tiny and I can handle these two."

The twins looked up at the enormous man and thought 'Tiny?' They both already knew just how strong he was, but the thought of being sedated terrified them both. There had to be something they could do to get out of this.

"By the way boys, I need to know something. What exactly did you do with the files you copied from Nurse Candle's computer? We can't let those get into the wrong hands now can we?"

They both just stared at him.

"Don't everybody speak at once now. Tiny." He said as he motioned for his gargantuan to help the boys think better.

#####

He wrapped one hand around Cody's throat and squeezed, just a little. Cody gasped as he started having trouble breathing, the man didn't cut his air off, he just made it really hard to breathe. He tried clawing the hand away with no luck, Tiny was just too powerful.

As Zack watched he thought the ogre was going to break his brothers neck. He jumped up to stop him, but Tiny just swatted him back down on the couch, like he was a bothersome fly.

"I'm sure there is something you want to tell me now, isn't there Zack?" Skylar asked.

"We didn't do anything with it, it's still on Cody's computer. Nobody knows it's there. Please let him go."

"Are you sure that is the only copy you have of my file?"

"Yes, please tell him to let go. Cody... are you ok?"

Cody was starting to turn red from not being able to breathe right. He tried to shake his head but the meaty hand around his throat kept his neck straight. He held his hands on Tiny's, if for no other reason than to support himself somehow.

"Zack…" He gasped out softly, tears falling down his flushed cheeks. He looked like he was going to pass out any second.

"Ok, Tiny that's enough we don't want him permanently damaged." Skylar said calling off his monster.

Tiny let go of Cody and he fell against Zack gasping for air. Zack had tears stinging the corners of his eyes as he comforted his little brother.

"I hope you were telling me the truth Zack, I can't always control Tiny the way I'd like to and he really hates it when people lie to me." The Drug Lord smirked at the older twin.

Zack felt a bruise coming up on his cheek. He then looked at his brother leaning against him still trying to catch his breath, a bruise starting to show up on his throat. He then turned his gaze towards Skylar giving him a dirty look, shifting to look fearfully up at the mammoth he saw him watching Cody with a content smile on his face. They had to get out of there quick, despite what Skylar told them about not wanting to kill them, he wasn't sure they would be able to survive Tiny.

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**A/N: Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Thanks you guys for reading, hope you enjoy.**


	11. Two Women

What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?

Chapter 11 - Two Women

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A/N: Like always I only own the people you don't know. :)

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On the way to Cheevers Thursday at 3:20pm

As Carey drove towards the school that afternoon all she could think about was the look on her son's faces when they saw her in the parking lot. She was driving up there to surprise them, they had been so good lately, and she had been working so much she hadn't been able to spend any time with them. She was going to take them out for a dinner and movie night; she had even talked Estebon into giving her the night off so she could spend it with her boys.

She had it all figured out, one could pick the movie and the other picked the restaurant. She only had one restriction and that was there would be no Zombie movies, she was sure that Zack would be ok with that.

It was three thirty when she pulled into the parking lot so she figured the boys would be walking out any minute, because it always took them a few extra minutes for Cody to get all his books in order. As she sat there waiting she wondered where they would end up for dinner, burgers and fries, or filet minion and potatoes stuffed with pesto and sun-dried tomatoes.

She got so lost in her food daydreams that she lost track of time. When she looked at her watch she noticed that it was almost four, she wondered if Zack had gotten detention and Cody was waiting for him. She waited there until four before she decided she had better go see what was taking them so long.

She walked into the building and was surprised at how busy it still was for school to have been out for a half hour already. Of course there were all kinds of clubs going on, after school that Cody used to be involved in, and sports that had always kept Zack busy. But she didn't think they were involved in anything now.

As she walked by the principal's office, she saw Principal Militich coming out and stopped her in the hallway.

"Hi Miss Militich, I don't know if you remember me or not…"

"Remember you, I couldn't forget you and Mr. Moseby if I tried." She laughed. "What can I do for you Ms. Martin?"

"Well I was wondering if you had seen my sons this afternoon, I was going to surprise them and pick them up for a dinner and movie night, but they never came out." Carey told her worriedly.

"Hmm, let me go check and see what I can find out for you. I'm sure their fine, just goofing off somewhere." She told her, as she also wondered where they could be. She knew she had seen them that morning.

"Thank you, that would be a great help." Carey said feeling a little bit better.

As Principal Militich made a few phone calls, Carey saw Nurse Candle sitting at her desk talking on the phone. She looked extremely agitated. She hoped everything was ok as she heard her shouting into the phone that she couldn't do it. Then she watched as she hung up the phone and got her bag putting two syringes in it. As she passed by Carey she couldn't help asking her about her boys.

"Hi Nurse Candle right? My name is Carey Martin. I was just wondering if you had seen my twin boys today." She started. "They never came out of the school, and I am getting worried that something might have happened to them."

"I'm sorry Ms. Martin, I don't think I can help you. I have been very busy trying to solve a problem today and haven't been able to focus on anything else, I hope you find them." She explained sadly. She had a hard time meeting Carey's eyes, and when finally did she could see they were filled with sadness. "If you will excuse me I have an urgent matter to attend to."

"Oh of course, and if you see my boys please tell them that their Mom is worried about them and to come home."

"Of course I will." She said as she rushed out the door.

"Carey." Miss Militich called from the other room. "I'm afraid that no one has seen your boys since before lunch. They said that they heard them running away from one of the teachers and that's the last they saw of them."

"R… Running from a teacher? What possible reason would Cody have to run from a teacher? Well anyway thank you Miss Militich, I will check at home, hopefully they are there waiting for me." She said as she pulled out her cell phone and dialed their suite.

Ok now she was truly worried, she had dialed home, and both twins cell phones with no luck. She couldn't understand why they would have been running away from someone, let alone a teacher. She finished walking to her car and got in behind the steering wheel, still trying to figure it out. It was starting to get late and the sun was just starting to lower itself in the sky. She couldn't see the road so she pulled down her visor to keep the brightness from blinding her. When she pulled it down an envelope dropped in her lap.

* * *

Nurse Candle was sure she was going to have a stroke any minute. She couldn't believe how much extra she was having to do, against her will. She agreed to give the drug to the students as long as she could pass it off as someone else doing the actual drugging. Now HE was asking her to put two kids to sleep; she couldn't shake the feeling that it was similar to putting an old dog out of its misery.

She just couldn't do it, she had done everything he had asked her to do and it never ended. This was crossing the line, it might not have seemed that way lately but she did have standards. She did take the oath of a physician to do no harm, and she had already crossed that line. Well, she wasn't going to go any farther, so she put just a touch of a sedative in her syringes and the rest was saline. It was just enough to knock them out into a very light sleep, and that wouldn't last very long. She just hoped it was long enough to satisfy her boss.

* * *

Carey almost drove off the road when a white envelope flew in front of her eyes. She waited until she stopped at the light to pick it up, as she looked it over 'Open In Case of Emergency' written on the front of it in Cody's handwriting. Well, since she couldn't find them she figured this was a perfect time to open it. She pulled into the Tipton parking garage and then carefully opened the envelope.

* * *

Mom,

I hope you don't have to read this letter, but if you do, we first want to tell you that we love you. Don't ever forget that.

We also need to tell you why you are reading this. Zack and I have been looking into the massive sickout at our school for about 5 days now. More than three fourths of the kids are out sick including Bob, Max, Barb, Tapeworm, and even Mark. We thought that there was some really bad disease going around, but the more we thought about it the more we connected the cafeteria to it. We weren't getting sick because I made our lunches. The final straw was when Max got sick; it was like she just disappeared off the face of the earth last Friday. We tried to call her and nothing, so we tried the rest of our friends and couldn't get any info on any of them either. The hospital wasn't any help. There was something wrong, so we went snooping. Well, we found out what happened, and are now trying to figure out how to make them well again.

We are so sorry we didn't tell you sooner what we were doing, but we honestly thought it would be nothing more than food poisoning. Then when we found out what was really going on we were afraid to tell you, because we didn't want you to be used against us or us against you.

Mom, all this involves that drug guy, Devon Skylar. We left a flash drive in your glove box and it has all the information that you will need to go to the police and bust this thing wide open. The fact that you are reading this now means that they have figured out that we are on to them and we are either in hiding or they have us. I hope that it is the former of those two things. But please take this to the police and tell them it was taken from Nurse Candle's hard drive. Please don't tell anyone else, and watch your back.

We love you Mom and hope to see you really soon,

Zack and Cody

* * *

As she read this she could feel the emotions rising to the surface, after all she had just talked to that woman. She needed to be smart, however, she couldn't just go off and confront her. First she needed more time off, so she headed in to show Estebon so that he would hopefully give her time to find her boys. She held her emotions in check all the way into the hotel until she passed by the candy counter.

"Hi Carey, how are you doing today?" Millicent asked. "Aren't Zack and Cody with you? I thought you went to pick them up."

That did it; she froze, staring at the candy counter girl while trying to blink back the tears, but couldn't hold it in any longer and started sobbing right there in the middle of the lobby.

Millicent was shocked, ever since she had gotten to know Carey she had never seen her break down like that. She needed to find out what was wrong; she couldn't stand to see her friend in pain like that.

As they sat there on the sofa in the lobby, Carey tried to keep the secret, but having a willing ear and a comforting arm around her shoulder, she just let it all pour out and before she knew it she had told Millicent everything.

"Oh my, Carey I am so sorry. But you know my brother is a detective on the police force, let me call him for you." Millicent offered hugging her close. "His name is Stone."

"Thank you Millicent." She said sniffing through her tears. "You have grown up a lot since you started working here. I remember the shy young lady that you used to be, afraid of your own shadow. I really like this new stronger version of you better." Carey added complimenting the girl as she pulled away from the hug.

"Thank you Carey, I think you and your boys helped me come out of my shell a lot. You are all so friendly, and no matter how bad my day was the twins smile would always make my day brighter." The candy girl said a little shyly. "I can't do much but be here for you, but I will help you all I can to find them again, and I know my brother will too."

"Ok then, please call your brother." The mother of two said. "I need to find Estebon, have you seen him?"

"Nope not for a while now." She answered as she dialed the phone. "Maybe he's in talking to Chef Paulo."

Carey did indeed find Estebon in the restaurant and they sat down at a table in the back while she explained to him why she possibly needed more days off. He was extremely understanding of the whole situation, as she knew he would be.

"Of course Carey you take all the time you need and know that I weell be here if you need anything at all. Deed you call Kurt yet?" He asked her.

"No not yet, I would like to know for sure that they are missing before I call him off his tour. I haven't even looked at this flash drive yet."

"Carey. There you are, I called my brother and he is on his way. Don't worry we will find them before you know it." Millicent reassured her.

* * *

At that moment Nurse Candle was just finishing administering the sedative to the twins. It was a very hard task to complete; first because she didn't want to do it, and second because both boys had to be held down by Tiny to make them be still so she wouldn't break the needle in their arm. They fought so hard she knew that the grip Tiny had on their arms was only going to leave more bruises on their fair skin.

She gave them both a sympathetic look as she finished up. She wanted to tell them that they wouldn't be asleep long or possibly not at all, but she had to be careful what she said to them in front of Devon, Stu, and Tiny. She didn't want a bruise like Cody's.

"Mr. Skylar, I need to take them into the other room and examine them, it looks like they have had some extremely rough treatment." She told him hoping that he bought her explanation. "They shouldn't be any trouble for me now."

"Ok, Tiny take them into the other room and stand guard outside the door, but keep it open." He told his monster, then to Jeanine. "If you have any trouble at all he will be there."

* * *

She shook her head. "Ok." She then followed Tiny as he ushered the two boys into the room. She stood there while she waited for him to leave; when he did she started towards the twins. She was at first taken back by the looks they were giving her. "Ok, I understand how you feel, believe me. I feel the same way about myself, but you two need to listen to me. This might be the only time I get to talk to you."

"Why should we listen to you, you are part of the reason we are here?" Zack spat at her.

"Ok that's true, but you would have been happily at home now if you hadn't started being nosey… but that's neither here nor there. Listen I need to tell you something before they decide I am taking too long, you might not get as sleepy as you think. Here let me check those bruises while I explain." She reached up to Zack's cheek and he flinched away. "I'm sorry Zack, I know you two didn't deserve this."

"No, we didn't we were just trying to help our friends." He told her.

"I know that, but you just caused more trouble for everyone."

"We didn't mean to, we thought at first it was just food poisoning, then we found out more." Cody explained.

"I see, Cody does your throat hurt, or is it just your neck where he grabbed you?"

"Just my neck, I think."

"Ok, let me check it for you. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I diluted your sedative." She whispered to them. "You won't sleep very long if you sleep at all, but you need to pretend to get very sleepy really soon, ok? I don't want him to make me give you another."

She then pressed on Cody's neck making him gasp in pain. "Sorry. Ok listen, we teachers made our choice and we are stuck with it, but you two are here against your will. I just wanted to give you boys a fighting chance, I'm sorry I can't do more. I don't know what he is planning on doing with the two of you, but you need to at least be able to try to get away."

"Nurse Candle? Are you done in there?" Devon shouted.

"Ok boys time to act as sleepy as you can. I have to go or he will get suspicious. Oh, and I saw your mother as I was coming here, she is very worried about you. Good luck, I hope you will be with her soon, and I am truly sorry you are mixed up in this." She told them as she turned to leave.

"Yes sir, everything is fine. They are about to fall asleep." She said, as she walked out of the room the boys both laid down together and pretended to go to sleep grasping each other's hands for support. They could hear talking outside the room, so they listened hoping that they would be able to learn something about why this was all happening.

* * *

"Ms. Martin?"

"Yes, that's me."

"Yes Ma'am, I am Detective Stone Parker, Millicent's brother, this is Detective Stephen Chesterly my partner. I am here to help you find your boys, can you show me the letter you received and the flash drive?" The detective asked.

Carey handed over everything that her boys left in her car. She watched as they plugged the flash into a laptop they brought with them. As they looked over the files on the drive they both got very concerned looks on their faces, which did nothing for her fragile state of mind.

"Well, does that help? Can you find my boys?" She asked nervously as Millicent held her hand for moral support.

"Ma'am… Carey, you might want to call your husband. This could be very serious, he should know what's going on." The detective explained to her.

"You think something bad has happened to them?" She asked as she started to shake.

"Eet's alright Carey I weell call Kurt for you if you want me too." Estebon offered.

"No Estebon, I need to be the one to call him." She said sounding a little stronger as she steeled herself for the phone call. "I appreciate the thought though." She then smiled a small smile at how great her friends were being for her.

* * *

"Hello."

"Hello Kurt?" Carey asked even though she would always recognize his voice.

"Yes, Carey? What's wrong is one of the boys sick?"

"No they aren't sick. Kurt honey, you might want to sit down."

"Carey just tell me, what is it?"

"Ok, I'm sorry. The boys are missing, Kurt. They decided to play spy and they are either kidnapped or in hiding. They left me a note just in case that they were taken… Oh Kurt… I am so worried." She sobbed into the phone.

"I'll be there as soon as I can, hold on Carey. We will find them." He told her as he started packing a bag before he even hung up the phone. He called the airport as he was walking out the door to book the first flight to Boston. He jumped on his motorcycle and headed for the airport, not even telling his band he was leaving. He could call them later.

He was going to find his sons.


	12. Leverage

**What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?**

**Chapter 12 - Leverage**

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**AN:** As always I only own the folks you don't recognize, Disney owns the rest. :)

* * *

The whole flight from Dallas to Boston all Kurt could think about was how. How could his two boys be mixed up in something like this. He had talked to Carey again after he arrived at the airport while he waited to board his flight. He waited over an hour before he was in the air and then was having to wait another three before he reached Boston. It had been sheer torture. He should be there now his boys needed him.

Carey had explained about the kids at the school, and how their boys had taken it upon themselves to see why everyone had gotten sick around them. She told him that they had thought it was accidental at first but then they found out that they had all been poisoned, and then added that Cody had hacked into the nurse's computer to get the files to prove what they had found out. That news stunned him, his boys breaking the law; he couldn't believe it, even if it was to save someone else. He was actually rather proud of them, but he was going to ring both their necks when he saw them for making he and their mother worry.

Now they were nowhere to be found, and the last time anyone saw them they had been running away from a teacher at school. All this was somehow connected to the Drug Lord Devon Skylar. They were just praying that he didn't have their kids, because if he did, Kurt didn't even want to think about what could be happening to them. And if he hurt his boys, heaven help him if Kurt ever found him.

As he looked out the window the announcement for them to get ready for landing came over the loud speakers. Carey had told him that a police unit would be waiting for him outside the terminal to bring him to the hotel. He watched as the plane touched down on the runway… he was almost home.

* * *

After Nurse Candle had left the room with the boys she hoped that they could fool Skylar well enough to keep them safe.

"Well, how are they?" Skylar asked her.

"They are pretty badly bruised, Zack's eye where Tiny slapped him is going to swell shut and Cody may end up having some trouble swallowing. Maybe you should keep your giant away from them for a while." She responded. "They won't be giving you any trouble for a while anyway."

"You let me worry about what Tiny is going to be doing with them." He said abruptly. "I think that his expertise is needed with the them to keep them under control, they seem like they are going to be a handful."

"Under control? What could they possibly have done to earn those kinds of bruises? Why are you torturing them like that," she demanded. "Are you just playing with them before you kill them?"

"It's none of your concern what I plan on doing with them, but since you are so worried about them all of a sudden, I will tell you this, they will be taking a long trip within the next couple days." He answered her fiercely, and then as if they were talking about going on a family vacation. "So do you think they will be ok to travel?"

"You're taking them with you? Can't you just leave them here, you will be gone they won't be able to do anything to hurt you."

"I would think you would be happy that I'm taking them with me. That only protects all my wonderful employees here at Cheevers." He said with an evil smile. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to any of you. I might be needing your services in the future if my new business with these boys works out like I think it will."

The look on her face was priceless, he laughed while immensely enjoying their conversation. "You didn't think that once I left you were never going to see me again, did you? I would miss you all much too much."

"What kind of business are you planning now?"

"Lets just say you will be in the export business. I will be leaving my best man Mr. Weasely here to help you out, isn't that right Stu?" He asked his helper who grinned back at his boss.

"Sure boss whateva' you want."

"Don't you make enough money with your drug business, why ship a bunch of kids overseas, I would think it would be too bothersome for someone like you." She said trying to talk him out of his new idea.

"Don't try to talk me out of this, because it's going to happen, there is no escaping it. And just in case you didn't know this already, once you do a job for me you are mine for life. I can use you where I please, when I please, and as I please." He leered at her. "Be glad that's all I want."

* * *

In the next room two blonde boys lay struggling to stay awake. The shots might not have been enough to knock them out, but they were enough to make them quite groggy. They were each listening to the conversation between the drug lord and the nurse, and were really starting to get worried.

Being afraid to open their eyes kept them locked away in their own worlds, even though they still had a hold of each other. This resulted in them feeling cut off from one another, and totally alone. The fog they each in from the sedative wasn't helping, it just amplified the feeling tenfold. They felt the other shutter in fear, after which they squeezed one another's hands even tighter.

Zack lifted his eyelids just enough that he was looking thru his eyelashes. He could see that Tiny was still standing in front of the door, but he was looking toward the nurse and drug lord in the other room. That was a good sign and he felt safe enough to open his eyes, well his good one anyway, and nudged his brother causing his to open also.

As Cody opened his eyes he saw that Zack's eye had truly swollen almost all the way shut, he really hated Tiny. Zack motioned towards the door showing Cody that they were alone as long as they made no noise. They needed to make a plan for their escape, so they started talking in the only way they could… their secret sign language. However lying there on the couch as they were, they could only do small motions like spelling words out.

'What are we going to do?'

'I don't know Cody, but we have to come up with something. You heard them right?' He watched as his little brother shook his head. 'He's taking us overseas.'

'What do you think he wants us for?'

'Your guess is as good as mine, but if we don't get away from Tiny we won't be around long enough to worry about it.'

'True,' Cody agreed. 'Well the vents are out, that's the first place they will look.'

'Ok well…' Zack turned his head to look at the walls. There weren't any windows, and only one door to this room.

Cody's face fell, as he realized they only had one way out and that was unfortunately thru Tiny.

'Don't give up on me yet little brother.' Zack grinned as a plan started forming in his head.

* * *

As the police cruiser pulled up to the Tipton, Kurt almost tore the door off trying to get out. Unfortunately the only way out was after the officer opened it for him, as there are no door handles on the inside of the backseat. As soon as it was open, he lunged for the doors of the hotel. Luckily Norman saw him coming and had the door wide open for Kurt to run thru.

As he entered the lobby he looked for his ex, not seeing her he assumed they were in the suite. He got on the elevator and nearly tried holding the doors shut as he was experiencing a similar rush of guests that his oldest son had had to put up with a few days before. Finally reaching the twenty-third floor after many stops, and many more people, he ran to his family's suite. Not thinking he grabbed the door-handle and simply barged into the room, only to find several guns pointed at him from the police officers and detectives in the room.

"Whoa there fella's, I'm Kurt Martin, you are looking for my sons. Carey?"

The guns were sheathed as Carey who was standing in the kitchen area when he came in heard his voice and rushed into his arms. Even with all the problems they had had during their marriage, she still felt safe in his arms.

"Kurt, I am so glad you are here."

"I'm sorry it took me so long. Have they found anything out yet?"

"Mr. Martin, I am Detective Parker, and this is my partner Detective Chesterly." The officer said introducing himself and his associate. "Sir, so far we only have the information that your son's left their mother. We need to find some kind of leverage we can use to get your boys back so we are sending in some plain-clothes officers to stake out the school. We will be watching all the exits and don't want to tip anyone off that we are there just in case they do have your sons. That could be very dangerous for them."

* * *

Zack was forming a plan in his head and he needed to talk to Nurse Candle one more time before she left for good.

'Codes, I need you to start moaning for me. Pretend you are still asleep though.'

His brother gave him a curious look, but he did what he asked. He made sure he was facing away from the door and started moaning. He had to do it several times before Tiny heard him, but once he did everything moved quickly.

"Boss, one of them boys is making an awful lot of noise in there. Sounds like he might be sick." Tiny called out to his employer.

"Go check on him." Skylar grunted at the nurse. "I want to make sure they are ok to fly by Saturday night."

Jeanine returned to the room to check on the boys, and heard Cody groaning.

"Cody?" She said walking over to inspect his neck. "Are you ok, has your throat gotten worse?"

He shook his head no and looked at Zack.

"Miss Candle?" Zack whispered, as she got closer. "What did you do with the sedative you were supposed to give me and my brother?"

"Why do you want to know?" She asked quietly.

"If we can't get out of here, we might need it to knock Tiny out. If we don't get away from him…" He paused as his breath hitched. Cody put his hand on his arm for support. "I am truly afraid that one or both of us won't survive. He almost choked Cody to death out there just to get me to answer a question."

"I left it in my office, I only brought the two syringes with me." She apologized. "I had no idea that he was hurting you two so badly."

"Oh well, I guess we will just have to chance it. Maybe we can take him down together, what do you think Cody?"

"I don't know Zack, he batted you away when he had my throat like you were a mosquito or something, and this," he said pointing at his neck and swallowing slowly. "This is from just one hand."

She watched the two frightened boy's talk about trying to take down the monster and in that instant made a decision. She had to help them if she could, after seeing what he had done to them already she couldn't let him touch them again.

"Alright you two, do you think you can hold off on doing anything until I can get back?" The nurse asked her two frightened patients. "Just lay here and don't do anything, stay asleep until I get back. I will bring you some things that will help. Okay?"

The two blond boys stared up at her with their big blue eyes from where they lay on the couch. They looked so young and helpless; it broke her heart. The two nodded their heads, indicating that they would do as she asked.

"Ok then, Cody you let out a moan every once in a while but other than that, remember you are knocked out. So sleep." She instructed. "I will be back as soon as I can."

The boys shut their eyes once again, and surrendered to playing possum for a little while longer as the nurse left the room leaving them alone and helpless for a second time.

* * *

"You really need to keep that monster away from those boys or they will not be going anywhere with you." She said as she emerged from the room where the boys lay.

"What do you mean, what's wrong with them?"

"Well, Cody looks like his throat is swelling up." She lied. "I need to go back to my office and get something to stop it or he won't be able to breathe soon."

"Ok, hurry up I don't want either of them to die on me, that will take away my leverage. Go get what you need. In fact get what you think you might need for the night, you're going to stay and look after them until I know they are ok to fly."

As she left she couldn't help but think about what he had just said. '… that will take away my leverage…' 'Way to think about another human life there, Skylar.' She thought to herself. 'We will be getting some leverage of our own very soon.' She was grinning as she entered her office to get what she needed to help the boys escape.

* * *

**AN:** I just wanted to ask you all to go vote in the Suite Life Awards by tiger002. My story 'Beauty and the Beast: A Woody and Addie Story' was nominated and is actually a finalist. Go vote at- www. fanfiction. net / s / 6540792 / 1 / -just take out the spaces.


	13. Big Trouble

**What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?**

**Chapter 13 – Big Trouble**

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**A/N: As always I only own the people you don't know.**

**I am sorry for taking so long to update this chapter; had a little writer's block, I'm still not sure about it. :P Hope you like it.**

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**Just after midnight…**

Nurse Candle came back to the basement and found it quiet. She supposed Devon had gone to bed and Tiny was still guarding the doorway where the boys were being held. He had dragged a chair from the other room and put it right in the middle of the door. His massive frame still filled the whole opening, even with him sitting. She allowed herself a glimmer of hope. 'Maybe we could get out now.' She thought.

"I need to check on the boys Tiny, can you let me by please?"

The big man moved out of her way just enough for her to squeeze past him. As she entered the room, she noticed that the boys were out cold. They finally fell asleep she thought as she moved soundlessly towards them to make sure they were all right.

As she looked down on them she noticed that their bruises were much darker and in fact they looked like they had more. She reached over to check Cody's neck to make sure he was breathing all right. When she turned his head to get a better view of his neck, she noticed he had a knot behind his ear that wasn't there earlier. She brushed his hair back and saw that it was fairly big. She decided she better check Zack's head for the same and found a matching one in the back.

"Tiny, what did you do?" she asked whirling around to confront the giant. It was then that she noticed he had followed her into the room. Surprised, she dropped her medical bag near the boys and waited for his answer.

"The scrawny one was making too much noise, so I shut him up. When I did his brother tried to stop me, so I had to shut him up too."

"Why?" She asked fearing the answer. This was her fault she thought, she had told them to continue to groan while she was gone.

"He told me to keep 'em quiet, and not to let 'em out of this room. So that's what I did."

"Does Mr. Skylar know you did this? Where is he?"

"Not yet. He had a 'portant conference call to make, he won't be back for a while."

"Well I am telling you now, he won't be happy about this at all. Tiny you shouldn't have done this; they couldn't possibly have done anything to you. It was totally unnecessary, and I'm going to tell Mr. Skylar that as soon as he returns."

"I can't let you do that Miss Candle." Tiny said as he approached her. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her to him as he drew back his hand. She tried to get away, but he was clamped on to her wrist with an iron grip that only let her watch in disbelief and fear as he brought his hand down to the side of her head and hit her with a force that threw her against the wall. She thought she felt her wrist snap when she was flung away. The last thing she saw as she slumped against the wall was him reaching to pick her up, and then everything went black.

* * *

**9am Friday morning…**

Millicent made her way to the Martin suite. She didn't have to go to work 'til noon and wanted to be there for Carey in case she needed anything. She passed many plain-clothed policemen on the way there. She knew that they were there to watch out for the family and the other employees at the hotel.

Her brother had taught her many things about police work over the last few years. He had wanted to make sure his little sister stayed safe at all times. He had taught her self-defense which helped to boost her confidence, that and her friendship with Carey. She would do anything for her, and she was terribly worried for her and her family now.

"Good morning, I just wanted to see if anyone needed anything this morning." She said as she walked into the suite. "You the only one awake, Stoney?"

Stone was sitting on the couch watching the news so she sat down beside him.

"If you're looking for Carey, she and Kurt are in the boys room asleep on their beds."

"How long have they been asleep?"

"Not long, I hope they can rest, they are going to need it."

"Any news this morning?"

"Nope Milli, I really wish I had better news. Our undercover people said that they haven't seen the boys, Nurse Candle, or anyone else leave the school since yesterday afternoon. We sent some men in to search the school; they searched all the classrooms and didn't find anything. The only place they didn't search was the basement, it was locked and we are waiting on permission to break in and search down there."

"Is that a bad thing?" she asked him already guessing the answer.

"Well sis, lets put it this way. If they aren't in the basement somewhere then they were taken away before we got our men stationed outside. Neither is a very good option." he said seriously.

"But if they are still in the school at least you will be able to find them, right?"

"I just hope we find them in time, Skylar isn't known for being very understanding towards people that go against him."

"So you are saying it's a long-shot that we will see our boys again."

The siblings turned to see Carey standing in the boys' doorway holding Cody's blankie and wearing one of Zack's camouflage T-shirts. The shirt came almost to her knees making her look like a lost child herself.

"Oh Carey I'm sorry I didn't know you were standing there. That's not what I'm saying at all, I am just saying that anytime someone is taken like that it takes a lot of patience and hard work to get them back." Stone said trying to cushion what she had just heard.

"It's ok Detective, you didn't say anything I hadn't already thought of myself. I watch TV, I already know that the longer they are gone the less likely we are to find them alive. It just made it more real to hear it come from you."

"Carey can I do anything for you and Kurt, I know this is draining for you both. Would you like me to get you something to eat, or make something?" Millicent asked her friend.

"No! Carey for your own good, don't let her cook for you." Stone said in mock horror. "You don't want to be incapacitated all day, please send out for food."

Millicent whacked him on the arm making everyone laugh if even for just a minute as he grabbed his arm. "Oww!" He said. He taught her well, that actually hurt.

"Don't worry Stone, she couldn't possibly cook any worse than Carey here." Kurt said sleepily as he walked out of the bedroom scratching his head. "Oww! Take it easy Carey; you have a powerful punch there. You know I love your cooking, it's just what I've heard others say." He smirked as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Ok, lets just call room-service. What does everyone want?" Carey offered. They all told the currently brunette woman their orders as she wrote it all down before having Kurt call it in.

* * *

When their food was brought up Estebon accompanied it. "Eees there any news about the leetle blonde peoples?"

"No I'm afraid not Estebon." Carey told him as they filled him in on how things were progressing.

"Carey, I came weeth news from Mr. Tipton. He told me to tell you that you are off with pay until you find them, so you have one less worry to think about."

"That was very thoughtful of him, I was worried about that. Hopefully it won't be for very long." She said glancing at Stone. "Tell him thank you for me. I really don't think I could sing right now. To be honest I actually might just jump down someone's throat if they looked at me wrong."

"It's ok Carey I think we all feel that way right now." Kurt told her coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. She leaned her head back on his shoulder and sighed.

"You know I have missed this, I wish it didn't take something this bad for us to get along so well." She said quietly.

"I know, I agree with you. We need to start trying a little harder on that." Kurt told her as he pulled out a chair for her to sit to eat breakfast. She looked up and smiled at the gesture.

Everyone else joined them at the table to eat while they waited to hear about the search warrant to come thru.

* * *

**Back at the school…**

"Where is she?" Superintendent Hendrikson shouted as he stormed into the principal's office.

"Where is who Mitch?" Principal Militich asked the irate man.

"Where is Jeanine, she hasn't been heard from since yesterday afternoon. Did she tell you she was going away anywhere?"

"No, I thought she went home after school, and she doesn't always come in at the same time so I wasn't concerned about her. How do you know she is missing?" She asked wondering if he would finally admit what the whole faculty already knew. They had known for a while now that the two of them were seeing each other, everyone was just waiting for one of them to spill the beans. Alas today was not the day.

"I… uh… I just do ok. You can trust me on that." He said looking like he was going to pass out any minute from the stress of his secret and not knowing where his love was.

"Ok Mitch, sit down and I will call all the other teachers and ask if any of them have seen her. You need to calm down you look like you're going to have a heart attack." She said as she ushered him to a chair.

"Ok but could you please hurry, cause… uh… if I do I might need her assistance." He said sheepishly.

"Yes I will let you know as soon as I hear back from them all." She smiled at him.

"Thank you, Jackie."

She went into her office and started making calls. She got to Mr. Macavoy and got a shocked almost scared response. He tried to sound normal but she could tell he was uneasy hearing about Nurse Candle being missing. She tried not to read too much into it until she got to the kitchen staff. She was talking to Miss Crocker and noticed the same reaction. This was starting to get really odd. She knew the twins were missing, but now one of her staff had also disappeared, and some of the others were acting odd.

When she arrived at work this morning, she had a plain clothes policeman waiting in her office wanting to get permission to get into the basement. Well she had no problems with that but she didn't have a key. They had lost the only key they had and were still waiting for a replacement. Maintenance had tried to get in by prying the door loose with no luck, so they just gave up. If the police could open it without blowing it up she had no problem with it. She told him that and he seemed satisfied. He left after telling her he would let her know when they knew what they were going to do.

She truly hoped they found nothing down there and the twins were off somewhere causing trouble…

* * *

Down in the basement three people slept on not knowing about the people that were worried and looking for them. Nor did they know that looming over them was the giant shadow of the man charged with making sure they caused no trouble. He was just waiting for one of them to wake so he could do his job.

* * *

In another corner of that same basement there was a man still having a conference call setting things up so that he would have his contacts all in order before he arrived. He was explaining his new business also just to see what the interest might be. So far he wasn't getting the response he was hoping for. If it didn't pan out, he would just use the boys as runners til they wore out or had an accident. Then he would find some replacements there. He knew he was running out of time to sell his idea of bringing more teens with him, he was supposed to leave in two days.

But he had no idea just how short on time he was…

* * *

**Around noon at the Tipton…**

"Parker." Stone said as he answered his cell phone. "Yes, oh really? What else can we do if we can't blow it up?"

Everybody looked at him, horrified. He held up his hand to say hold on and he would explain. So they waited as patiently as they could til he hung up the phone.

"Ok, sorry about that you guys, they said they couldn't get into the basement. Nobody has a key, and the door seems to be barricaded from the inside. Their maintenance people have tried to get it open several times with no results." He explained. "Sooo, we are still trying to get in, but it looks more likely that there is something going on down there we need to see. They will let us try anything we want short of blowing up the door to get it open. Hopefully we'll find your boys when we do."

"I hope your right." Kurt added.

"Oh and something else, apparently Nurse Candle is missing also. Nobody has seen her since yesterday. I'm not sure what that means yet but we are looking for her also. Some of our men are headed over to her apartment as we speak."

"I hope she ran off a bridge somewhere."

"Carrie!"

"I'm sorry but to think she had something to do with my sons being kidnapped just makes me want to cause her physical pain."

Kurt moved over to stand behind her and rubbed her shoulders. "Let's focus on our boys, ok?"

She turned and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Ok I will, she just really got to me. The way she lied to my face about my children. I just want to…"

"Carrie." He hugged her tight and rubbed up and down her back.

She rested her head against his chest listening to his heartbeat. She let that soothe her. She took a deep breath. "Sorry, focus only on Zack and Cody. I can do that." She said as she clung to her ex like he was the last life jacket. And she desperately needed one of those right now.


	14. Awaken Suite Princes

**What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?**

**Chapter 14 – Awaken Suite Princes

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**

**A/N: And again I own only my people, not Disney's.

* * *

**

**Around noon in the basement…**

"What the… Tiny! What did you do now! I told you to take care of them, not 'take care of them'. They look like they are trying to change their skin color to purple. What did you do to Nurse Candle, and why did you do it?"

"Boss, Boss, calm down and I'll tell you. I only did what you told me to. You said to keep 'em quiet and out of trouble, right? I did that, they were making an awful lot of noise, moanin' and groanin'. I couldn't stand it no more so I shut 'em up. Well that's when that nosey Nurse lady came in and asked me what I did. She said she was going to get me in trouble so I shut her up too."

"That's not what I meant Tiny." Skylar said glaring at his muscleman. He had to walk away for a few minutes because he was so angry, but the way that Tiny saw things he was just following orders. He couldn't yell at him for that, but he did need to do some explaining.

"Ok Tiny, we need to talk." He said as he walked back over to him.

"Ok Boss."

"I have a new order for you. I don't want you to touch the boys unless I tell you to, or they actually do something to you. Ok?"

"Ok Boss."

"I also don't want you to touch Nurse Candle at all. Understand?"

"Yes Boss."

"Ok you probably need some sleep, it doesn't look like they will be doing anything for a while so go to bed for a little bit. Wake up Stu and send him in here. I'll have him stand watch while you rest."

"Ok Boss, thank you." He said as he left the room and headed for his bed.

As Skylar stood there looking at the three figures laying on the beds he thought about how easy it would have been for Tiny to have killed them all. He really needed to explain things better. As he looked over at Jeanine, he saw the bruise on the side of her face and got angry all over again. You never hit a woman. That is one thing Tiny would be learning and he would make sure he learned it well. He might be a criminal but he was still a gentleman.

"Did you need me Boss?" Stu asked as he walked into the room.

"Yes Stu, I need you to keep an eye out for these three. As soon as any of them starts to wake up you let me know."

"You got it Boss."

"Ok I've got a couple of phone calls to make and I should be back in about thirty minutes or so. If Tiny comes back let me know immediately."

"Ok, is he in trouble?" Stu asked curiously. He loved it when his boss's favorite lackey got into trouble.

"Just let me know."

"Yes Sir."

* * *

**Upstairs…**

"Hey Mitchell, is it true that they haven't found Jeanine yet?" Fredrik asked his boss as they entered the empty classroom.

"I'm afraid so Fred, what do you think it means?" Mitch asked him. "You don't think… I can't even say it out loud."

Fred looked up as Mary walked in. "I hope not; what do we do now? She was kind of our boss in this venture. Hi Mary, are you ok to leave the cafeteria this early?"

"Yes, we have so few students to feed anymore they won't even miss me." She answered before turning to Mitchell. "He wouldn't hurt her would he?"

"Unfortunately, you never know what HE might do." The Superintendant answered solemnly. "Fred when is your next class?"

"I don't have one til last period. Like Mary said because we have so few students right now, we are practically down to only one class a day."

"Well ok then, what should we do? Should we run? Should we act like we don't notice? Do we need to look for her? Would HE get mad if we contacted him? What if we asked if she is gone? Should we call the police?" Mary asked getting more panicked with each question. "Oh Mitchie, I am so sorry. I wasn't thinking, I tend to ramble when I get nervous. Just because she is gone doesn't mean she is gone for good."

"Shut up Mary! I really don't need to hear that right now. I'm sure she is alright, I mean she has to be, right?" Mitchell said sadly. "And don't call me Mitchie, only my Bunnie can call me that."

Mary and Fred both looked at him strangely. He had never called her that before, at least not in front of them. He must be more worried than they thought.

"Yeah Mitch, I'm sure she is fine. He wouldn't hurt her she was the backbone of the operation. She's the one that has kept us all coordinated." Fred said.

"Can't you call that Weasel guy? He might know something." Mary offered.

"Ok I'll try texting him and see what he says."

SuperMitch: Stu have U seen NurseJ?

#1WEASEL: IC her now

SuperMitch: is she ok?

#1WEASEL: sleeping, G2G

SuperMitch: K THX

"Ok then, at least we know where she is. Can't be to bad if she is sleeping." Mary said. "Maybe he had her stay to check out the boys for some reason, he does have them doesn't he?"

"Yes, Stu and that giant of his snatched them up in one of the empty hallways yesterday." Fred explained.

"You can relax then, at least we know that 'The Barracuda' isn't after her since he ended up in jail." Mary remarked.

"Who would have ever thought Jagger Brunsworth could have been so careless, he was a professional hit man after all." Mitchell agreed. "He should have been more careful when he was at the St. Marks. I bet Skylar sent him there to spy on the Martins."

"I wonder if they know who they have in custody." Fred commented.

"Who knows, just be glad he won't be coming after any of our sorry butts anytime soon." Mary grinned.

* * *

**Back at the Tipton…**

"The more he's on the phone the better right?" Carrie asked Kurt.

"I don't know, I hope so. He doesn't seem to be angry, so that has to be a positive."

"True, I wish they would find out something soon. All this waiting around is killing me." She admitted.

"You and me both, honey."

"Well, as you might have figured out that was the station again. They have good and so-so news." Detective Parker started.

"Let me guess, they want us to stay here a little longer." His partner Detective Chesterly guessed.

"You are so right partner. But Steve, they said that we would be moving out soon. We are getting into that basement no matter what tonight. The higher ups are finally getting tired of waiting around."

"So is that the good news, or the so-so news?" Kurt asked anxious for some good news.

"That was the so-so news, now for the good news. The guy they arrested over at The St. Marks, that Jagger Brunsworth, he was the Skylar Cartel's famous hit-man 'The Barracuda', and he is talking faster than they can ask the questions. He really wants a deal." Stone said smiling.

* * *

**In the mean time…**

Just starting to come awake, Zack felt extremely dizzy and had the worst headache he had had in a long time. He was wondering what he could have possibly done the night before to make him hurt so much. As he lay there trying to remember he felt something in his hand, it was another hand. He knew it wasn't his because he couldn't feel it when he squeezed, so he tried pinching it. He heard a moan and opened his eyes to see his brother lying next to him with his eyebrows crinkled in pain.

Everything came rushing back to him so fast he had to shut his eyes to keep the room from tilting too far causing him to roll off the small bed that they were sharing. After taking a deep breath and swallowing a couple of times to keep is stomach where it was supposed to be, he opened his eyes again and surveyed his surroundings. His brother was beside him; his back against the wall and hand still in Zack's.

When he turned to look at the rest of the room, he saw Nurse Candle lying on another bed across from theirs. She turned her head in her sleep just as he looked her way and he saw a massive bruise on her cheek. Anger rose inside him as his Mom taught him to know better than to raise your hand to a woman. He looked toward the door to see if Tiny was still keeping guard and saw a much smaller Stu. He was sitting sideways in a chair, placed in the middle of the doorway, with his feet propped up on one side of the door frame and his head leaned back on the other sound asleep.

Zack smirked at the sight before wincing in pain, his eye and cheek still very swollen. He reached over and nudged his brother. Cody moaned again before his eyelids fluttered open, and still he had to blink a few times to clear his vision. As he looked over at him, Zack could tell his little brother was just starting to remember also.

When reality fully hit Cody he jerked into sitting position and Zack put his hand on his arm to calm him, glancing at the door. Cody followed Zack's eyes and understood when he saw Stu slumbering away. He was the one with the gun so they needed to be quiet and not wake him. He looked back at his older brother with a million questions in his eyes. Unfortunately Zack had no answers, but he was working on it.


	15. The Great Knockout

**'What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?'**

**Chapter 15 - The Great Knockout pt 1**

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At the Hospital...

The whole west wing of St. Agnes Hospital was full almost to overflowing with teenagers, their parents, and a few teachers. Some had been there for almost a month, while others only a few days, but they were all trapped there. The teens and their teachers had all fallen unconscious after they were sent home from school, so they and their families had been secluded to that wing and put into quarantine.

Nobody knew what was wrong with the teens and their parents were beside themselves trying to figure out what was happening. They were allowed no outside contact, so they could only find out little pieces of information each time another teen was admitted.

The last thing any of them had heard was that the twins, Zack and Cody Martin, had gone missing and were feared kidnapped by the Drug Kingpin, Devon Skylar. That came from the spouse of the latest teacher to fall ill to the mystery disease. This news terrified all the parents as they started thinking of all the reasons their children might have fallen ill.

But nobody knew for sure what was really happening anymore.

* * *

In The Basement...

As the twins sat there, Zack's brain was working harder than it ever had in his entire life. He needed to find a way to get him, his brother, and it looked like Nurse Candle too, out of this nightmare they had gotten themselves into.

First they needed to wake the nurse so they could see just how badly she was hurt. If they found a way to escape, they would all need to be able to move quickly.

Second they needed to get rid of Stu and Tiny somehow. Since they had no idea of where Tiny was at the moment they could focus on Stu, and his gun.

Cody watched his brother as he tried to think of a means for escaping, and was amazed at how focused he was. He started to smile. In spite of everything they had been through he knew that Zack would never give up. Even though he and his twin never truly saw eye to eye on some things, well most things, aww who was he kidding it was almost everything, they were still always there for each other.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Zack whispered.

"I was just thinking. I'm not worried Zack, I know we'll get out of here somehow," he replied quietly as he grinned at his big brother. "I mean, hey, they've never been able to keep us down yet."

"So true little brother," Zack smirked.

"Have you thought of anything yet?"

"I am still trying to figure out a way around Stu and Tiny. Tiny is going to be the biggest problem," he pointed out. "Maybe we could peek in Nurse Candle's medical bag and see if we have anything to work with."

"That is a great idea, Zack. Do you see it?" Cody asked as he started intently scanning the room as if he had suddenly developed x-ray vision.

"I think it's over by the door, Codes."

Both boys looked towards Stu, and saw the object they were looking for sitting by the back leg of his chair. His right arm had fallen off his lap and hung down beside the chair leg, his fingertips grazing the top of the bag.

They looked at each other.

"No problem," Zack smirked, while his brother looked at him like he had lost all his proverbial marbles.

The hardest part was getting off that bed without it squeaking or making any other noise. Zack swung his legs over and slowly slid off the bed until he felt the cold hard floor under his tube-socked feet. As he got ready to stand he braced himself on the little table by the bed, in case he got dizzy again, and lifted himself off the bed in what seemed to be slow motion; he was trying so hard to be quiet.

Just as he got completely off the bed and was straightening himself to head for the bag, Stu moved. Zack froze instantly, the color draining from his face making his black eye resemble a pirate's eye patch, as he hoped Stu wasn't going to wake up.

Cody almost passed out from the breath he didn't even know he was holding as he watched Zack start to inch towards the door; the five feet he had to go felt a lot like having to cross the Grande Canyon using a rickety wooden suspension bridge to get to the other side.

It took him what felt like an eternity, but Zack finally made it to the doorway. He looked down at the bag sitting so close and started to reach for it just as Stu, again, decided to move in his sleep, his arm flying up so fast it almost hit the boy between the legs.

Zack had to put his hand over his mouth to keep from squeaking in fright. Luckily Stu pulled his hand towards his own lap just in time leaving Zack with the easier task of just grabbing the bag and making his way back to the bed.

When he was sitting back beside his brother, he unzipped the bag and pulled the handles apart and they peered inside. Cody leaned over and started taking inventory of everything he saw.

"Lets see; stethoscope, thermometer, blood-pressure cuff, otoscope, reflex hammer, syringes, Benadryl, aspirin, band aides, bandages, wraps, alcohol, salve; there has to be something in here we can use," he mused.

"Hey wait isn't this the stuff she gave us after she watered it down?" Zack asked holding up a bottle almost full of clear liquid.

"I think so, yes; I'm sure it is."

"Well we need to wake Miss Candle so she can get some needles ready and we can shoot Stu while he is sleeping," Zack suggested, shivering at his next thought. "Then we prepare for Tiny."

"Ok go ahead and wake her," Cody mumbled, hoping his brother wouldn't argue about it.

"Um Codes, I did the dangerous part, I think you can handle waking up a little woman. I mean really, she is actually smaller than you."

'Shoot!' he thought. "Ok, I just don't want to scare her, she looks almost as bad as we do; oh, and if you'll recall dear brother," he pointed out as he grinned. "I. Am. The. Taller. Twin."

"Yeah, yeah, but a slight breeze could blow you away," Zack smirked.

Cody slowly slipped off the bed, wincing at the cold that seeped thru a hole he didn't know was in his sock, when his feet hit the floor. He wasn't as careful as Zack was because; they were starting to notice that Stu could apparently sleep thru a marching band playing in the room.

He padded over to where Nurse Candle slept, and lightly touched her shoulder. Nothing. He shook it slightly; he didn't want her to yell as she woke. Still nothing. He looked back at Zack who motioned for him to continue. He leaned down and whispered her name next to her ear.

"Nurse Candle, you need to wake up. We need your help."

He stood back up and watched her eyelids flutter. He still didn't want to frighten her, so he waited. Soon her eyes slowly opened revealing two little slits that she peeked through. She squinted at Cody and then, just like he did, she shot straight up in bed suddenly looking wide-awake.

Cody placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and she looked over at him, then at Zack. She then looked fearfully at the door expecting to see Tiny, relieved at seeing Stu; she let out the breath she was holding.

"How long?" she croaked before clearing her throat.

"Don't know, I think its around two o'clock now, but we don't know when you came back" Cody answered, looking worriedly at her. "Are you alright?"

"I think so," she replied looking around the floor. "Have you seen..."

"It's right here," Zack interrupted pointing to her medical bag.

"Yeah that's actually part of what we needed to talk to you about," Cody added helping her up off the bed. He held onto her arm as she swayed to keep her from falling.

"Thank you Cody. What did you need to know?"

"Well is there anything in this bag we can use to incapacitate Stu and most especially Tiny?" the younger twin asked.

"Yeah we saw things we can tie them up with," Zack explained. "But I don't really think we can get close enough to Tiny for long, before he would knock us out again."

"Well, I did bring the rest of the sedative I used on you boys, although it might take the whole bottle to stop someone as big as Tiny."

"Maybe if we can knock out Stu first, then each get a syringe full, we can all jump Tiny at once," Cody suggested. "He can't knock us all out at the same time, right?"

"Of course not Cody," Jeanine said trying hard to believe what she just said.

"Ok, can we knock out Stu while he is asleep?" Zack asked hopefully. "After all he does have a gun, if we can get him out maybe we can use it too."

"Let me fill those syringes, how many did I put in there?"

"I think I saw about six, can't we refill them?" Cody asked, "I know it's not healthy, but at this point I don't really care if Tiny catches something."

"I guess we can, but what if he gets one and shoots one of us with it?" She mused. "Plus there is the time thing, if he is attacking we won't have any."

"Oh, I didn't think of that."

"We could just shoot him with the gun from Stu," Zack offered. But after seeing the look on his brother's face, he looked down mumbling, "I mean if we don't have any other choice."

Nurse Candle smiled at the twins as she started filling the syringes. She couldn't let anything happen to these boys. They were actually very good kids, unlike some of the other kids she saw everyday.

"Ok, they're all filled. One should be enough for Stu," she explained. "Do you want me to do his? It doesn't have to be rushed, and I can cause a lot less pain than you two."

They both grinned at her. "Less pain is probably for the best, maybe he can sleep through it," Cody agreed. "But I would like to get back at him for the way he treated Zack when they caught us."

Zack smiled at his baby brother, "You can tie him up after, Codes, nice and tight. Use some of those knots we learned in scouts."

Nurse Candle picked up one of the lesser-filled syringes and tiptoed towards Stu. He had been snoring in his chair for the last hour. He must have been really tired so they were going to give him a very nice, restful sleep. Zack padded up behind the nurse just incase he woke up when she inserted the needle.

She pulled the cap off the needle and squirted a tiny bit out to make sure there were no bubbles. Then she decided to put the needle right through his shirtsleeve instead of maybe waking him by rolling it up.

As soon as the needle pierced his skin he jumped. When she pulled the needle out, his eyelids flew open and a pain that he couldn't figure out shocked him. Did something just bite him? By the time he looked around Jeanine was done and they had moved away.

Stu noticed the hostages were awake and standing around one of the beds. He kicked off the door jam and attempted to stand.

"Heyyy wha are you guyyys doin over therre?" He slurred shaking his head, trying to clear it.

'Shouldn't've had that last beer fore I came in here,' he thought to himself.

"Ahright ghet backk to yourr beds nowww." He lifted his gun and attempted to point it at the group.

They crawled back onto the beds and waited. Stu was going down, and he was going down fast.

"Thas bedderr, now shtay put," he scolded. He wobbled back to his chair, went to sit down, and ended up on the floor. He sat there for a minute waving the gun around and cussing, suddenly the gun fell to the floor and his head slumped sideways. He was out cold.

The twins high-fived each other and then each held a hand up to the petite nurse. She looked at them funny and then hit their palms with both her hands at once, giggling a little as they grinned at her.

They all glanced down at Stu and sighed. One down and one giant to go, then they had to deal with the BOSS. They were hoping that without his body guards he would just fold like a card house and give up.

Zack and Cody got up and moved Stu to his chair and propped his feet back onto the door jam, and Cody tied them together. Zack then procured his gun and put it in the back of his jeans, silently thanking his father for teaching he and Cody how to handle a gun.

Meanwhile Cody finished him off by tying Stu's arms to the back of the chair legs. He was using some of the Ace Bandages they found in the medical kit and making knots that he was sure no one could get undone.

When he finished, they waited... for the monster to come back.

* * *

**A/N- Ok guys, I am so sorry for taking so long to update. I had a total mental block on how to get them out of trouble and a few other things that had to be explained, at least a little bit. I hope what I came up with works. Thanks you for your patients and I hope you like it. **

**The good news is, the story is almost done and I already have it written. So you won't have to wait as long for the rest of it.**

**-Wyn**


	16. Tiny's Turn

**'What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?'**

**Chapter 16 - The Great Knockout pt 2, Tiny's Turn**

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**Disclaimer: I forgot in half my chapters, but I own nothing you recognize in this chapter. :)**

* * *

Waiting...

It felt like they had been waiting forever already, and Tiny still hadn't shown up yet.

"Should we go look for him, maybe he's asleep too and we could knock him out like we did Stu," Cody suggested, not being able to stand waiting any longer.

"We should have headed for the vents, Tiny can't fit in them and they won't be able to use Stu for a while," Zack complained.

"Boys, I know how hard it is to wait, but we have to make sure that no one will follow us," Nurse Candle explained. "Besides if we can get them all tied up and call the police then it will be over for good."

"Can I ask you something?" Cody questioned the nurse.

"You want to know why I did it don't you?" She responded as he nodded his head. "Well, lets just say when you become an adult you sometimes do things that you aren't proud of for reasons that don't make sense."

"Lady I do things I'm not proud of all the time," Zack said shrugging his shoulders. "Actually other people are less proud of them than I am, and they never make sense."

Cody nodded in agreement, "but Zack, even you would never do something like this."

"Cody, sometimes you do things for the love of another, that you would never think of doing for yourself," she continued trying to explain. "That and money are very strong motivators, they can make you give up on some of your morals. I don't expect you to understand, and I hope neither of you ever fall victim to anything like it."

"I'm sorry I asked, but I just couldn't figure out why," he admitted. "I'm sure that helping us will get you in alot less trouble though."

"Yeah we will tell them all you did to help us in here. Maybe you can get just a warning or something." Zack added.

"I appreciate that boys, but I know what I did was wrong and I am prepared to take whatever punishment they give me."

Just then they heard movement in the other room.

* * *

Back at the hotel...

Detectives Parker and Chesterly entered the hotel after a very tiring session watching the arresting officers question Jagger Brunsworth aka 'The Barracuda'. He told them of the impending move to Japan.

He also told them about watching the twins and that he knew they were being held at the school. He also told them what kind of security system Skylar had in the basement. He had the door rigged with explosives. You had to have a code to get in and out without setting them off, which he gave to them.

The more they heard the more worried they were becoming about the Martin brothers. The hit man was being very cooperative; he told them that he had been planning on leaving the Skylar syndicate after they moved anyway.

He gave them a list of names, the teachers that were working for Skylar in getting the school emptied before the big move. Also on the list were Stewart 'The Weasel' Weasley, and Ralph 'Tiny' Benson.

As the two men got off the elevator on the 23rd floor they agreed that with all the information that Brunsworth had given them, they would be able to get the twins out that night.

They couldn't bust down the door like they wanted to, but they could use the code and just walk right in. That would be a much bigger surprise.

"Parker," Stone answered his phone. "Oh really, they turned themselves in already? I wonder what spurred that. Yes I will tell them Chester and I are approaching their suite as we speak."

Detective Chesterly knocked on the door, heard a faint come in, so they entered. As they moved thru the door, they saw Kurt, Carey, Millicent, and Esteban sitting around their table with a short bald headed black man.

"Hi Stone, Stephen, I would like to introduce you to an old friend and the former manager of this hotel, Marion Moseby," Carey introduced the new face to the detectives.

"Nice to meet you sir," Stone held out his hand to the man. " I am Detective Stone Parker and this is my partner Detective Stephen Chesterly. I am also Millicent's big brother, and I appreciate you taking such good care of here when you were here. I do remember her talking about what a great boss you were."

Mosby shook both of their hands. "That's so nice of you. Millicent, I always thought you were scared of me," he teased the young woman. "Detective Parker, do you have any news on the twins?"

"Yes Sir, actually that's why we're here," he answered. "Jagger Brunsworth was very forthcoming in telling us everything that he knows about Devon Skylar."

"Yes he gave us a code for the basement door, we are going to go in tonight and surprise them," Stephen added. "We also found out that three of the four teachers involved in the school poisonings of the teens and other teachers turned themselves in about an hour ago."

"Yes they did, the only one missing is the school nurse, Miss Candle," Stone continued. "They have reason to believe that she is down in the basement, along with Skylar and two of his employees. We have also been told that the twins are definitely down there too, so they should be home tonight, in the morning at the latest."

* * *

Here he comes...

Tiny made his way to the small room where the three troublemakers were being held.

"Stu?" he called out. Then he saw him sitting in the doorway sound asleep. "Stu get up and go to bed, you know if the boss caught you like that you'd be in really big trouble."

Stu never moved. Tiny started to get worried. "Stu?" He tapped him on the arm and then he noticed the bandage wrapped around it and the other one along with his legs. He started to get angry and picked up the whole chair Stu was sitting in and moved it to the side.

As he walked through the doorway, he felt two pricks, one on each arm. He reached out and slammed his arms into the wall on either side of him, hearing an oof coming from both sides.

He knew it was those stupid boys, they should know better than to mess with him. He turned around, picked them both up by one arm, and started to drag them back to the beds, when he felt another prick in his butt. He dropped the older boy so he could rub his backside.

As soon as Zack hit the floor he jabbed another syringe into Tiny's leg. The leg shot out and sent Zack flying into the wall again. As he tried getting up again, he stumbled, and his vision became blurry. And worst of all, Tiny still had a hold of Cody and showed no signs of slowing down.

Nurse Candle backed away as Tiny flailed wildly, slamming Cody into the wall, the sound of bones snapping filling the air.

Zack got up, his vision failing him, but not caring in the least as he slammed Tiny with all his weight, hoping it would be enough to free his twin, but the giant's grip was as strong as ever. He wasn't strong enough to even make him budge, but he knew he had to do something.

Tiny swung his arm again, trying to get this little pest away but Zack grabbed onto his arm, and he too was slammed into the wall, causing his body to erupt in pain. He cringed, but wouldn't let go, not until he found a way to get Cody to safety. So seeing, that conventional techniques wouldn't work, Zack bit down on Tiny's arm as hard as he could, causing the giant to drop both twins as he backed away in pain...

Nurse Candle stabbed him with another syringe, before rolling away, though he was too angry to notice, and ran at Zack, determined to make him pay for getting blood on his new shirt.

Tiny slammed his fist into Zack's fragile chest, sending him flying into the wall again, and knocking the wind out of him. The giant smiled. No one hurt him like that…and lived to tell the tale.

"Zack," Cody yelled, running over to his brother, who struggled to get up, unable to find the strength to get back on his feet this time, he slid back down the wall.

"I can't breathe," Zack whispered, unable to do anything more. It felt like he was drowning, that somehow his lungs were filling with water. He coughed, seeing red droplets spew from his mouth.

Nurse Candle got farther away, knowing she had to do something to save the twins, but also knowing she was powerless to stop this monster. The tranquilizer wasn't working, and they were running out of time fast. She eyed the room, looking for something, anything she could use.

Then she saw it, a lamp. Unconventional maybe, but it was the best she could do.

Tiny walked over to the twins, ready to take down the other one. He found it strange how such small people could be such a problem. They reminded him of bugs. And he liked the squash the life out of bugs.

As Cody backed against the wall he cradled his left arm, he just knew it was broken. But still he was trying to put some distance between him and the monster, Tiny ran at him. Cody tried getting away, but found himself quickly grabbed by the back of the shirt and yanked him to the ground.

But before Tiny could further hurt the younger twin, Nurse Candle swung the lamp as hard as she could, slamming it into the back of Tiny's head, causing him to stumble back and forget all about Cody. This wasn't just a bug, but one who could sting, and sting hard. It had to be destroyed first, and with the most amount of pain.

Tiny leapt at her, and while she tried to raise the lamp to stop him, he shattered it with a well-aimed punch. Too struck by fear to move, she was powerless to resist as he picked her up by the neck and began squeezing, enjoying the noises she made as her face turned blue.

"Cody," Zack said softly, getting his brother's attention.

"What is it Zack?" Cody whispered, as he knelt by his brother.

"Stop him." Though fighting to hold on to consciousness, he managed to reach around to the back of his pants and pull out the slim black gun. He looked up to his brother, knowing how much Cody hated guns and violence, but knew that he was in no shape to aim it himself, and Nurse Candle was about to die. And with a silent plea, Zack fell unconscious.

Cody took the weapon of death into his hand, its cool metal sending chills up his spine. He swore he'd never use one, who's right did he have to take another's life? Though seeing Nurse Candle having the breath squeezed out of her, and seeing his brother very likely near death beside him, he knew he had no choice. Swallowing his heart, he took aim. He winced as he braced with his left arm, like his father taught him, making sure the trajectory was lined up perfectly. Ignoring all hesitations, he fired, the ear splitting noise filling the air.

Tiny dropped the nurse as the bullet entered him, his body unable to process the strange feeling of his flesh being torn. He stumbled to the side, the blood loss taking its toll along with the tranquilizer.

And with that, the giant finally fell.

* * *

**A/N - This was another one of those chapters. I want to thank Tiger002 for helping me with the fight scene, he helped me make it so much better than I ever could have alone. Also to WoundedHearts for keeping me going when I got stuck, she never let me stop. You guys have been more help than you know. :) **

**Ellie I think that conference helped, alot more than I thought. :P**

**O.K. guys I hope you like it, there is one more after this, I think. :P **


	17. And the Boss goes down

**'What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?'**

**Chapter 17 – ...And the Boss goes down.**

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**A/N: I own absolutely nothing you know from the show.**

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Cody stood frozen in silence, almost like one of those wax figures in the museum. He still had the gun raised as if he were going to shoot again. If a pidgin were to fly over right that second it would probably find him a good place to rest. His eyes had taken on a vacant look as if his spirit had left his body the second he fired that gun.

* * *

After the gunshot rang out through the basement, Skylar's head shot up from his nap. "Damn it," he just knew Tiny had shot one of the boys. "They're becoming more trouble than they're worth."

If one twin were dead then he would have to have the other one killed too; his delivery system wouldn't work without both brothers. He needed one to keep for his leverage so the other would have to do his bidding. He mulled over how he could make it as painless as possible as he made his way to the room where they were being held. Good thing he had access to so many kids, all he had to do was just wake them up and take them away.

"Tiny, Stu, what have you done to..." he stopped mid-sentence as he passed by Stu, still out cold and tied to his chair outside the door. Then he saw the shambles that used to be a small bedroom, with one lone blond boy standing perfectly still in the middle, holding a gun pointed at the door.

He let his eyes wander across the room and saw Nurse Candle sprawled out on the floor next to one of the beds, looking like a broken doll, tossed aside and forgotten.

Next was Tiny laying face first on the floor, with his head pointed towards the door and syringes sticking out of him in various places, making him resemble a giant pin cushion. With a closer look he could see he had a hole in his lower back where apparently Cody had shot him. He wasn't even sure if he was alive or dead.

On the other side of the room Zack was laying slumped against the wall. He looked half dead already. He was barely breathing, and when he did Skylar could hear it gurgling a little. That must be where the trickle of blood running down his chin came from.

When he looked back towards Cody he saw that he was pointing the gun directly at him, but he didn't seem to see him. It was almost like he was in some kind of trance.

"Cody," he said softly. "You need to put the gun down, son." He started to approach him very slowly not sure if the boy even heard him.

He moved right thinking he could grab his arm from the side. He paused when he noticed the gun was tracking him, so he kept his eyes trained on the teens face as he backed away, it never changed, no emotion at all, in fact it looked like he was staring right through him. It was beginning to unnerve him, so he decided to just back all the way out of the room, and try his best not to end up like Tiny.

Just as he reached the doorway, he heard footsteps coming from the main entrance. Whoever was invading his sanctuary was not in a hurry, he couldn't see them yet, but he could hear them trying to sneak up on him. He looked back at Cody and tried to decide if it was safer to stay with him and his gun, or go face the group of strangers coming thru the door.

He chose Cody.

Once the decision had been made, he started moving towards the boy with surprising speed, weaving back and forth around the bodies on the floor, hoping that the kid didn't come to his senses and shoot him all of a sudden.

As he got closer, he slowly stretched out his hand towards the gun. It looked like Cody was just going to stand there, with his arms extended, so Skylar reached out a little further to grab for the gun. As he did Cody suddenly swung towards him, his hands hitting Skylar's shoulder and knocking the gun from the twin's hands. As it fell to the floor the gun went off.

Cody jumped back as if a snake had bitten him, landing against the foot of a bed. So Skylar picked up the gun and flipped it around so it pointed towards the frightened boy, not even curious if the bullet had hit anyone. (It didn't) He grabbed for Cody's injured left arm, catching him by the wrist, and pulled the boy towards him and twisting his arm behind him as he did. This caused the teen to emit a low moan as pain radiated up his arm barely penetrating the fog in his head. As Skylar held him close he heard shouts coming from the next room.

* * *

"Ok men that was another gunshot, so much for sneaking in," the police chief said over the radio. "We need to get those boys out now!"

"Yes sir," Detective Parker said into the mic on his shoulder. Then turned to the door and yelled. "This is the Police! Throw down your weapons and come out with your hands on your head!"

The police unit saw Stu tied to a chair with medical bandages as they headed in the door. This gave them hope that the boys were still alive. Two officers untied Stu, handcuffed him, and dragged him out to a waiting squad car.

When the officer entered the room he was shocked at what he saw, and could only hope everyone was still alive. Skylar was standing behind a bed in the corner with one of the twins pressed up against it, and a gun shoved underneath the teen's chin. As he watched them, he thought it was odd was that the boy didn't look scared, in fact he didn't even seem to know what was going on.

"Skylar, let him go," Stone said as he slowly moved into the room with his gun drawn. "We need to have the paramedics ready to move in as soon as we take care of Skylar; there are at least three people down," he yelled over his shoulder.

"Yes Sir," one of the officers responded before moving away and clicking the mic on his shoulder to make the request.

Stone, after having studied many pictures of the twins, recognized the boy Skylar was holding as Cody. He wondered what was wrong with him, however, he seemed to be in shock, or drugged, or maybe both knowing who they were dealing with. He glanced back at Skylar and was not happy that he hadn't immediately dropped the gun, but not surprised either.

"Ok, lets try this again," he started. "You need to lower your gun, so we can get in here and take care of these people. Do you want three more murders on your head?"

"What's one more death on my sentence?" Skylar snarked, pulling Cody in even tighter, making the teen wince from the pain. "It really won't make my prison time any longer now will it?"

"You never know, letting him go and cooperating with us might go a long way to maybe shortening it a bit."

"Yeah right, you expect me to believe that," he said as he swung Cody around like a rag doll, to keep him in front of him as Stone moved across the room, squatting and leaning sideways to check one of the fallen victims.

As Stone moved farther into the room his partner Detective Chesterly came in behind him. He focused his gun on Skylar just waiting for any opening.

Stone maneuvered his way over to the fallen giant, reaching down with one hand while he kept the gun in the other one trained on Skylar, he felt for Tiny's pulse. He had one, barely. Next he moved over to where the school nurse lay, keeping an eye on Skylar, and checked her out. She was breathing, but it was very shallow and she wheezed with every breath.

He slowly stood up and moved towards Zack, he really looked bad, poor kid. But, when he reached towards him to check his pulse, Cody screamed. "Nooooo!"

That startled Skylar making him lose his grip on the teen for a second. But that second was just long enough for Cody to dive towards his brother, giving Detective Chesterly his opening.

He took it.

* * *

The gunshot reverberated throughout Cody's body echoing deep into his soul. He had heard three of them all together, but in his mind they were all blended into one shot, the one he fired. He couldn't get past the thought that he killed someone as he sat on the floor cradling Zack in his arms. He knew he did it for his brother and Nurse Candle. It was self-defense, right? But, still.

He'd. Killed.

He just couldn't believe he did it, and he still might lose Zack. As he sat there he was afraid to let his twin lay down because he couldn't breathe, so he sat there rocking his big brother back and forth with his good arm, mumbling softly to himself and staring off into space.

Just a couple feet away Skylar lay on the floor groaning, he was bleeding from the gunshot in his shoulder. Chester didn't miss when he took his shot. They had already confiscated the gun he'd been holding for evidence.

* * *

Almost immediately the paramedics showed up and started treating the wounded. They had to put Nurse Candle and Zack on oxygen to help them breathe, and put temporary bandages on Tiny and Skylar's gunshot wounds. Cody wouldn't let them touch him, even though his arm was basically useless and he was purple over half of his body.

Zack was the first to be taken to the hospital, as his wounds were thought to be the most life threatening. He needed surgery immediately, or he could drown in his own blood. Cody never left his twins side, even when they wheeled him to and from the ambulance he was there holding his hand.

When the brothers reached the hospital, Zack was wheeled straight to the operating room. Cody tried to follow him but the nurse held him back. That did it; he snapped. He just couldn't take anymore and the tears that had been missing throughout this whole ordeal finally came as he slid down the wall into a puddle of saltwater on the floor.

* * *

**A/N: Surprise! Another chapter, and it didn't even take me 2 months. I hope you liked it. Thank you again to WoundedHearts and Tiger002 for reading it over for me. Hope to have another one soon. **


	18. Waiting

**'What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?'**

**Chapter 18 - Waiting**

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**A/N: I own nothing you recognize, as always.**

* * *

At the hospital…

Kurt and Carey had already been called and made aware of the seriousness of Zack's injuries, and how fragile Cody's state of mind seemed to be. As they entered the emergency entrance they saw their baby folded up in a heap on the floor sobbing.

He had sat there on the cold floor crying as he begged the nurse to let him follow Zack. He couldn't let him go in there alone, all by himself in that cold operating room. All he could think about was that he was going to lose his only brother forever, and he was going to die all alone. He couldn't let them take him away from him.

Luckily his parents walked over just as he was about to start screaming at the nurse. They picked him up off the floor and enveloped him in hugs, comforting him as another nurse escorted them back towards an examination room to check his injuries while they waited for news on Zack.

"Mom… Zack," Cody started. "He… he… Mom I can't lose him."

"I know baby," Carey comforted. "He will be alright, you just have to think positive."

"But Mom, you didn't see…"

"Cody, you have to think good thoughts for Zack's sake. You're his twin, you need to send him only positive vibes, do you understand?"

He hadn't thought of that, now he was scared that maybe he had made his twin give up hope. He had to think good thoughts from now on. "I hadn't thought of that, thanks Mom," he said as he tried to hug her.

"Cody you know Zack is tough, he'll be alright. He would never leave you alone; who would pester and pick on you if he did? He would never allow anyone else that privilege, that's his job you know," Kurt said trying to lighten the atmosphere a little bit.

Cody smiled as he leaned into his dad's hug; it worked.

As they walked down the hallway to the room they passed by some paramedics pushing Nurse Candle by on a gurney. When Carey saw who was on the stretcher she stopped them from going any further.

"Ma'am we need to get this patient to her room so they can work on her," one of the medics tried to explain to her.

"No, I have something to say to this, this evil creature," she spat.

"But Ma'am she can't hear you. We really need to get her to her room, she has had her throat crushed and can't breathe very well."

"I don't care, do you know what she did to my sons?"

"Mom," Cody said quietly. "That lady risked her life to save Zack and me when we were being attacked by a giant man."

She just looked at him like he had truly lost his mind, until she saw the next set of paramedics wheeling a gurney that looked like it was going to collapse.

It held Tiny, his feet hung off one end, and they'd had to use more than one strap to hold his arms up so they didn't drag the floor as they moved. He was lying on his stomach and hung over on all sides of the gurney. They had to stop and wait thanks to Carey holding up Nurse Candle's stretcher, because they couldn't get by.

"Mom, can we go my arm is really starting to hurt, I think it's broken," Cody begged his mother, eager to get away from Tiny. He couldn't watch them wheeling a dead man, one he shot, down the hall.

"Come on Babe, we need to get Cody looked after," Kurt grabbed his ex-wife's hand and they started back towards the room their nurse had indicated.

Carey couldn't help staring at the actual giant man as Kurt led her to the room. She watched as they wheeled him by once more before she looked at all the bruises on her son. 'What happened to her babies in the last couple days with that man?' she wondered.

The longer they were in the examination room, without news on Zack, the more anxious Cody got. He had a hard time sitting still when they took him for the x-rays. He didn't even flinch when the nurse gave him a shot for the pain, so the doctor could work on his arm, he was so distracted. He told Cody all the bones in his arm looked like a tree that had gotten caught in a tornado, they were twisted unnaturally and he needed surgery to put in pins to hold them together. It would heal all right; he would just have worry about setting off the x-ray machines at places like the airport.

He flat out refused to go to surgery until he knew whether or not his brother was going to be all right, so they put a temporary cast on it to keep him from injuring it further, and put it in a sling before bandaging the rest of his injuries. He had a few broken ribs; his shoulders, and neck were sprained, along with the very many bruises that covered his body. It was going to take quite a while before he was all healed, but he had gotten off lucky next to his brother.

At least he was still alive, Zack was fighting for his life in surgery right this minute, Nurse Candle was struggling for every breath she took, and Tiny was dead thanks to him. He hated every bone in that mans body for the way he treated the three of them, but he still couldn't get past the fact that he killed him. He shot a bullet out of a gun and it killed someone.

He had just resumed his pacing, when the nurse came in with a report on the other patients.

"Zack came through surgery just fine," she told them. "We'll be bringing him to a semi-private room when he gets out of recovery. Cody will move in there after his surgery also. The doctor was very impressed with how well he came through surgery."

Cody and his parents let out a collective sigh. They were so relieved.

"He said that Zack must have something very important to do when he wakes up," she added looking at Cody with a smile.

All of a sudden Cody felt extremely tired, so he crawled back onto the bed to rest.

The nurse continued, mostly for Cody's benefit, since she had seen the scene in the hallway earlier. "Nurse Candle is going to be fine. The doctor had to insert a tube down her throat so she could breathe, but he was confident the she would make a full recovery."

Cody smiled at the news and thinking that she was done he started to lie down, when she continued. "Mr. Skylar is just fine, they bandaged him up and have already taken him to a holding cell at the police station."

"Thank goodness, I'm glad he is far away from my sons," Carey whispered.

"And Tiny," Cody cringed because he knew what was coming, "is going to be in recovery for a while, and following that, therapy for an even longer time," the nurse detailed. "He will have to learn to be self sufficient without the use of his legs. Just because he is going to be in prison doesn't mean that he will be waited on hand and foot, quite the contrary, he will have to work even harder once he is incarcerated."

Cody's sat back up so fast he made himself dizzy. "He's alive?" he asked thinking he had heard her wrong.

"Yes Cody," the nurse smiled as she explained to the relieved teen, and then added seriously. "You didn't kill him, however, he is paralyzed from the waist down."

Cody felt such a sense of relief it was like he was floating, as he smiled slightly. He didn't kill anyone. He'd shot Tiny, and Tiny was still alive... he couldn't walk… but he would never be able to hurt them ever again.

And his brother was going to be all right. He sighed contentedly. He couldn't wait to see Zack and tell him everything that had happened after he passed out, what he could remember of it anyway. As he lay back on his little hospital bed his head started feeling kind of heavy, in that can't stay awake, pleasant kind of foggy feeling that you get when you're really sleepy. A little nap sounded like a great idea, he sighed contently, as his eyelids fluttered shut.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading, please review and let me know what you think. I would really appreciate it.**


	19. Explanations

**'What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?'**

**Chapter 19 – Explanations**

**Disclaimer: As always I own nothing that you recognize. :D**

* * *

Hospital...

Cody slowly woke up, memories of the day blurred together so that he had no idea where he was or what had happened. He tried getting up though, but as he went to move his left arm, it was frozen in place, as if it was glued to the bed. He started to panic before he remembered it was broken. He sighed, knowing it would be a while until he had full control of his body again, but when he looked down at the painful appendage, he noticed that the cast was different.

His mother, who was sitting next to him, noticed he was awake and leaned over with a gentle hug and a relieved smile.

"Good morning Sweetie, I'm glad you decided to wake up. I see you noticed your new cast," she said happily. "The doctor decided not to wake you before surgery, so he just prepped you while you were asleep and took you on in so it would be over and done with."

"Zack," he gasped, trying to sit up, thought of his own injuries thrown out the window when he remembered how badly Zack was hurt. He groaned as his body protested the movement and forced him to lay back down. Why did it always feel worse on the second day?

"Stay put, Cody," she fussed at him as she pushed the button to raise the head of his bed. "He's right over there, he woke up a few minutes ago asking about you too."

Cody turned his head to see that his brother was indeed in the bed next to his. He looked tired; but to Cody, he had never seen a more beautiful site than his big brother with the color back in his cheeks, and his eyes clear and bright. He may not be completely recovered, but he was much farther from death than the last time he saw him.

Their Dad was sitting in a chair on the other side of his bed talking quietly with his eldest son. He glanced over and noticed Cody studying them; he smiled softly and motioned to Zack to look towards him. When he turned, Cody smiled at him and was thrilled when he got the exact same smile back.

"How're you doing Zack?" he asked. "I was so worried about you."

"I know, I'm so sorry Codes, I hated leaving you alone with that monster," his brother answered, his face serious, before changing to a devilish grin. "But, they just told me I would be good as new in a couple weeks; the only broken bones I have are a few ribs, so I'll be all healed up way before you are."

Cody grinned, same ol' Zack, always competing. Even though he knew his brother was exaggerating, just a bit, on the timeline. Still, they would recover and that was the important part.

"So bro, I'm so proud of you," Zack beamed at him. "You probably saved both our lives, and Miss Candle's too."

"I was so scared Zack, you have no idea, I thought I'd really killed him."

"Should have, he is evil," Carey muttered from her chair at his side. "He wouldn't have hesitated in killing any one of you."

"No Mom, you don't understand. I was afraid I had killed him; I'm not prepared to deal with something like that. Taking another person's life is wrong; and just because he would have, doesn't mean I should have."

"Yes son, but you did what you had to do to save yourself, your brother, and the nurse," Kurt explained to his son. "If he had died it would have been his fault not yours, because you were only defending yourself, and trying to protect everyone."

"Yeah, you know he was coming after you next, he probably thought I was dead already. Cody, I might have died... if you hadn't shot him," he said thickly. "We all could have died in that stupid little room, if not for you Codes."

"Thanks, you guys," Cody tried to swallow the lump that was rising in his throat as he stared at his brother.

"Sooo Mom," Zack started, trying to change the subject before his little brother ended up blubbering all over the place. "Have they released any of the other kids yet? Are they ok? Surely they found the cure on Cody's memory stick, or on Nurse Candles computer by now."

"Yeah what happened?" Cody chimed in. "Is everyone ok?"

"Well boys, you ended up saving a lot of kids this week," Carey admitted through gritted teeth. "They are all going to be going home soon... sooner than you two. I really am so proud of you both. But if you ever do anything like that again, I'll be the one breaking bones!"

Both the boys and their father started laughing as they watched the conflicting emotions play across her face, but stopped immediately when she glared at them.

"We're sorry Mom and Dad," Cody started.

"Yeah, who knew that a little sick-out would be so complicated," Zack added.

"We just thought it was a simple case of food poisoning," they finished together shrugging their shoulders and grinning sheepishly.

* * *

Later that day...

"Mr. Moseby?" Zack and Cody said in tandem, they were shocked to see him standing in their hospital room. He had come all the way from the ship just to see if they were ok.

"Boys," the former hotel manager said in greeting. "How are you two doing? Looks like you will be up causing trouble very soon."

He looked at the teens with his standard twin grin (the cool smile he reserved for hoodlums only) firmly in place. All the while he was so relieved to see them in such good shape, he wanted to hug them both. But they would never know that, if he could help it. He didn't realize that just being there was all it took to show the boys just how much he really did care.

While he was in town, he took it upon himself to gather information for the Martins, so that Kurt and Carey could stay with their sons at the hospital. As he came in that evening to see the boys and their parents, he had found out quite a bit of information.

"Kurt, Carey, I just arrived from the police department. I have been looking into how the investigation is going. I discovered that the FBI has taken over the case," he explained. "They are rounding up more of Skylar's associates as we speak. Luckily, every time the officers detain one, they provide information on someone else. It's starting to move rather quickly."

"They took the investigation away from the police department?" Carey asked. "Does that mean that Stone and Stephen are not on the case anymore?"

"Supposedly they will still be helping out, but it's not their case anymore. They are not happy. "

"Mom, who are Stone and Stephen?" Zack asked.

"You don't know them Honey, but they are the officers that saved your lives," Carey explained to her oldest. "Cody do you remember the police coming in and saving you from Skylar?"

"I'm sorry Mom, but I don't remember much after I… I shot Tiny," he started shivering. "I remember seeing someone touching Zack, and me pushing them away. But even that's kinda fuzzy."

Zack watched his brother and wondered exactly what happened to Cody while he was out. "You ok, Codes?" Cody looked over and nodded, giving him a small smile.

"I'm sorry Baby, I shouldn't have brought it up, but the man you pushed away was Detective Stone Parker," Carey apologized. "He is Millicent's big brother. His partner is Detective Stephen Chesterly; he is the one that shot Skylar so he couldn't hurt you anymore."

"Shot Skylar? Mom, I don't remember that. When did Skylar come into the room?" Cody asked starting to panic. He had lost so much color he was fading into the sheets. "He was hurting me? I don't remember the police either."

"Cody, honey, calm down. It's over now, and he won't ever get near you again. I promise."

"But Mom." He was starting to shake.

Zack started to climb out of bed. "Hold on there son, where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going over there to sit with Cody," Zack told his father matter-of-factly.

"I don't think that you're ready for that just yet," Kurt started protesting.

"He needs me Dad," he said as he continued trying to slide out of bed.

"Ok, hold on, I'll help you. You're going to rip your stitches that way," Kurt said accepting defeat. He bent down, lifted his oldest son, and carried him to his brother's bed, being sure to watch out for his IV and stitches.

As soon as Zack was beside his brother he wrapped his arms around him and held him as close as he could without re-injuring them both. Cody wrapped his good arm around his brother and tucked his head into Zack's chest.

He was still shaking but it felt so good to have his brother near, for the first time since he almost lost him. He lost the battle he had been waging with his emotions all morning and just let them go. Zack held him until he wore himself out. He knew that he would be the same way if he thought he was going to lose Cody. His brother needed this; it was cathartic (yes he knew what it meant) to get your emotions out.

As Cody finally calmed, he was so tired he ended up falling asleep; Zack took this opportunity to ask his parents what actually happened to his little brother while he had been lying, helplessly unconscious, on the floor.

Even between all three adults, they could still tell him only what happened after the police arrived. While they relayed to him what the officers had described, he held his twin instinctively closer, realizing he could have very easily lost him too.

He felt so bad for not being able to be there for him, he was the oldest, and he was supposed to be the protector. The more he heard, the angrier he got.

"Moseby you were at the police station, what did they do to Skylar?" Zack seethed, being sure not to wake his twin. "Do they have a lot to pin on him? He won't ever get out of jail, so he can never hurt anybody again, right?" As he was talking, he was getting louder. Cody started to stir, so he tried to calm down.

"Well Zack, they had him in a holding cell when I was there," Moseby started. "As I said before, all his employees are being brought in, and they are all, what is the expression, singing like canaries. Skylar has an ever growing amount of accusations against him as we speak."

"I'm sure he will be put in prison soon, Zack," his father said.

"Not soon enough for me," Zack growled.

"Mmmm, what did I miss?" Cody yawned.

"Not much, Moseby was just telling us how many people are trying to stay out of trouble by snitching on Skylar," Zack smiled to his sleepy little brother.

At that moment, a nurse knocked on the door. "Hi, I'm Sarah. I just need to check a Zack and Cody Martin," she explained, reading their charts. Finding them in the same bed she just smiled and kept at her duty of changing bandages and checking their vitals. "You'll probably be seeing alot of me until you get released."

Zack grinned.

Sarah glanced over at Carey as she did her job, wondering how she would react to the request she needed to ask the twins. She had been one of many witnesses to the mother's reaction in the hallway the day before.

As she finished up, she took a deep breath and steeled herself. "Boys, Nurse Candle is asking about you," she glanced back at Carey. No reaction, so she continued. "She can't talk yet, her larynx was almost crushed and it will be a while before she can speak again. However she has been writing up a storm. She's been very worried about the two of you."

"Will she be alright?" Cody asked.

"Yeah she got hurt protecting us," Zack continued the thought.

"She will be fine, it will just take time for her throat to heal," she replied. "She would like to see you two, if that's alright. She won't believe that you are alright until we let her see you."

"I guess she can see them," Carey said, knowing there would be no way to keep the boys away from her. If what Cody had told her was true, and she really went up against that huge man all by herself to protect her boys, then she could try to find it in her heart to forgive her.

"Thank you Mom," her sons said in unison.

"Ma'am, can you tell me about Tiny?" Cody whispered, as everybody stared at him like he had lost his mind. "I don't want to see him, I just need to know. Ya know?"

"Well Cody, Tiny is going to have to use a wheel chair for the rest of his life. He will be frustrated, angry, depressed, and many other things until he accepts his fate," she explained. "But he will be ok. He has lost the feeling from his waist down mostly, but he can still use his arms, so he's actually very lucky you weren't a better shot. You could have easily made him a quad, or even killed him. Of course he doesn't see it that way yet. It's probably a good thing he is going to prison."

Cody visibly paled at that thought as Zack laid a comforting hand on his arm. "Thank you for telling me," he whispered. Thankful that he wasn't a better shot, he would be bothered for a long time by what he did to Tiny, even if he did deserve it, but he'd get over it. He wasn't sure he could say the same if he'd actually killed the man.

"I know he has already requested to start therapy, so that's a good sign. He may need more surgeries, but for now he needs to learn how to maneuver his chair, and exercise his own legs as soon as possible," she said, before softly smiling at him. "Now I really need to finish my rounds, I will be here until the shift changes at ten tonight. So please call me if you need anything, or have any pain."

"Thanks alot Sarah, we'll definitely be calling you," Zack winked as he blatantly flirted with her. She giggled as she left the room, the soft sound, music to his ears as he grinned triumphantly. Cody just rolled his eyes at his brother; Zack was definitely back.

* * *

**AN - Ok again, my apologies on taking so long to update. Ok I know I said this already, but just one more chapter and this will be all done. And I have the last chapter half done.**


	20. FIN

**'What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?'**

**Chapter 20 - Fin'**

**Disclaimer - As always I only own the parts you don't recognize. Zack and Cody are owned by Disney. :(**

Later in the week…

* * *

After much healing, and even more flirting the boys were finally released to go home under the watchful eyes of their parents. They were happy to be in their own home, a familiar environment where they were free to relax and do (almost) whatever they wanted.

They were flooded with phone calls from their school friends as soon as the rumor mill started back up again. The twins thought that what they heard thru the bathroom vent was amazing, but it was nothing compared to the questions they were being bombarded with.

"It's crazy, they are making us sound like some kind of superheroes or something," Cody said after getting off the phone with yet another classmate.

"Yeah, yeah, Zack and Cody, Super Twins," Zack snorted as he fell over onto his bed laughing so hard he had to hold his stitches so they wouldn't burst. Then he quickly sobered as he stared somberly into his only brother's eyes. "Seriously though, how do you think it will go tomorrow Codes?"

"I don't know Zack, hopefully we won't feel like criminals when they take us in. I mean they're just going to ask us what happened, right?"

"That's what I was thinking too. But, we did do a couple things that would be considered against the law; they shouldn't hold that against us since we helped catch Skylar though… I hope," he pondered while he noticed his brother staring down at the cast on his arm as he started breathing funny. "What's wrong, Cody?"

"I'm the one that actually took the samples from the kitchen…" he gasped, "a…and, I did all the computer hacking…" he stuttered, wheezing, "and I'm the one that shot Tiny. Oh my God Zack…" He leaned over, putting his head between his knees, as he tried to catch his breath. "They won't arrest me will they?" he asked panicking.

"Calm down Cody," Zack sat beside him and started rubbing his back. "If we get into trouble. We. Both. Get. Into. Trouble," he emphasized trying to calm him. "But I don't think we will, they just want to find out what happened so they can have more to pin on Skylar."

Cody's breathing started to even out as his brother continued to rub his back. "Thanks Zack, but you have to know," he sat up taking a deep shuddering breath as he cradled his cast close to his chest. "I would never let you go down for something I did."

"And I won't let you go down at all, come on Codes, you know we always do everything together!" he said, starting to get irritated at his self-sacrificing twin. "And you… have been through enough; you had all the hard work while I just sat on the floor unconscious! Nobody else is going to hurt you! I won't let them," he finished quietly as he reached around and hugged his brother close.

* * *

The next day they went down to the police station, where the FBI had setup a temporary headquarters were only able to ask the most necessary questions of them while they were in the hospital. When they arrived the detectives split them up so they could talk to them individually. They looked at each other worriedly as they were taken off into different directions.

As Cody sat down in the chair across from the officers he was looking extremely nervous. The detective felt sorry for him, as he had been told everything the poor kid had gone through. He was also instructed to take it easy on him because he was still fragile mentally. He took a deep breath and started his questions.

"Okay Mr. Martin," Agent Cho started carefully, as Detective Parker sat beside him trying to keep a low profile. "Tell me from the beginning how you and your brother figured out what was happening at your school, and why you thought you could or even should attempt to solve it by yourselves."

"Well Sir," he whispered back.

...

Across the hall with Zack…

"We really thought we would eventually be dealing with the food and drug administration," Zack started explaining to Agent Howard as the man sat across from him, along side Detective Chesterly, both listening intently to every word. "Because honestly, we thought all our friends were getting food poisoning."

"But why didn't you just call and have the FDA handle it?" Det. Chesterly asked.

...

Back with Cody…

"Honestly Sir, we didn't think anyone in law enforcement would believe us." Cody continued with officers. "We really thought we would find it quickly and send it to the proper authorities and be done with it. Who knew it would get so complicated."

...

With Zack…

"We expected to be getting on with our lives and forgetting all about it… and we would have if I hadn't lost my cell phone," Zack sighed. "We had to go back to find it and accidentally overheard Miss Crocker on the phone with Nurse Candle."

...

With Cody…

"It scared us so bad, when we figured out they were talking about us. They said that they were watching us, so we had to be careful. Mr. Macavoy really got on to Zack about his phone the next day; with the look he gave us, we just knew he was in on it."

...

With Zack…

"After what happened with Mr. Macavoy we didn't know just who all could be watching us, and we knew you wouldn't believe us unless we had proof. So we went and got it. It just didn't go quite as we planned for it to."

"That's an understatement son, so why don't you tell me how you went about getting the evidence that you left for your mother, and what happened after," the officer said.

"Ok," the boy in each room said simultaneously without even knowing before going into the complete details.

A couple hours later Cody was so relieved when he left the interrogation room, he almost floated to the waiting room where his parents waited. He was just stretching before he sat down to de-stress, whishing he could stretch the arm trapped in his cast, when he saw his big brother come strolling out of his room with the officer behind him. As Cody looked towards him, Zack winked. That was all he needed to see as he sighed knowing everything was going to be all right. The police and FBI decided that whatever they had done to break the law was offset by the information they found out about Skylar.

* * *

During the next several days the Martin's found out more new information about everyone involved. They learned their teachers had been in desperate need of money. So Skylar bought them off by making them debt free, as each of them were about to file bankruptcy, thus basically making them his slaves. Now that everything was over, they were each doing all they could to make up for what they had done, and to try to keep him incarcerated for as long as possible.

...

The boys started making regular visits back to the hospital to visit their new friend, Nurse Candle. They were so happy that she was going to be alright, even though it would take a long time for her to get there. She was always excited to see them when they came by, especially as they would give her a hug every time. They even tried to make her feel better by bringing tablets and writing notes to her as she wrote to them. Carey was even starting to warm up to her as she saw how much the nurse truly cared for her sons.

They were all upset when the FBI told her that she would likely get, at the least, ten years for her participation in the poisoning of the kids at the school. The twins stressed to them how much she helped them out after they were kidnapped, in fact they would have most likely died if she hadn't been there. The officer told them that the judge would take everything that happened under consideration.

...

Superintendent Hendrikson was especially helpful; he would have liked to seen Skylar hang for what he did to his girlfriend, Jeanine. When he heard that Tiny almost choked her to death, he was enraged. They had to cuff him to a chair to keep him from tearing the room apart, and even then they had to stop him from smashing the chair into the one-way window. He wanted nothing more than to finish them both off… permanently.

At the same time though, he also felt responsible for having recruited each of the teachers involved in this mess; therefore he tried to take all the blame on his shoulders. He tried bargaining to get them lighter sentences, hoping they wouldn't have to spend as long behind bars. The FBI was prepared to give them all a little bit of a break for all their help in cementing their case on Skylar, however they would have to all spend some time behind bars.

...

And then there was Stu... he refused to say anything hoping to make amends to the 'boss' for screwing up with the boys. The sad thing is he didn't even remember any of what happened that night after he sat down in that chair. He knew he shouldn't have been drinking, but guarding those twins had been making him nervous. He just knows he failed his boss, and that's a dangerous thing to do.

He had heard what happened to Tiny, so he wasn't afraid of him anymore. However, Skylar had so many people in the system already, there would be no place to hide. He could do almost anything to him in prison, and it would never be traced back to him.

So there he sat, waiting, jumping every time the door opened, fully expecting that person to be the last thing he ever saw.

* * *

After the brothers had recuperated physically they were finally able to go back to school. They did still have twice a week appointments with the psychologist, mainly to help Cody with his nightmares. Zack went with him to show his moral support, although he was getting almost as much out of it as his brother.

Cody was so happy to be back in his element, and even Zack was excited to be back. It had been a few weeks, so school was back in full swing when they entered the big double doors. Cody had never had so many kids saying hi to him in the hall, it was strange, but nice. Zack soaked up the attention like a dry, barren sponge, taking in all he could.

Even after all they had been though, all the ways that things could never be the same, the welcoming friends that told them things would be okay. And they knew that they would always have each other to face whatever challengers awaited them, no matter where they might lead.

* * *

'The End'

A/N: Thank you to those of you who stuck with me during my slow updating. Also a big thank you to WoundedHearts and Tiger002 for all their help and encouragement on this story. I might never have finished if not for the little nudges and big shoves they gave me. :D


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